


A Guiding Light

by TheWanderingAvarian



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Gen, Time Travel Shenanigans, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-05-16 17:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 32,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5834932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWanderingAvarian/pseuds/TheWanderingAvarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Cross tells Allen his body will one day be taken over by the 14th, Allen is anything but surprised. Nea turns out to be an unlikely ally in a time of distrust and confusion at the Order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Allow me to introduce myself

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own D.Gray-Man

Just after the Invasion of the Black Order Arc

Allen felt... confused. His last meeting with Marian Cross - his mentor, had severely shaken him. Cross's words seemed to echo and repeat themselves over and over again, filling Allen's mind with a mixture of fear, doubt and anger.

_"What would you do, if I told you you'll have to kill someone you love?"_

Why, why did Cross have to wait until now to tell him? He had known all that time and never once... But no, it was too late for answers now. Ever since he left the room Allen had somehow felt that everything was already too late. An unshakable sense of finality had settled over him as soon as he heard the door close behind him. There would be no more answers from Cross.

Suddenly Allen sensed a movement to his left, he looked over, and he couldn't help but smile as he watched Lenalee mutter in her sleep. Johnny was in turn asleep on her lap and Allen imagined they must have been an amusing trio to anyone who may walk through the room. He sighed slightly and looked out of the window, the rain was hammering down in torrents and it didn't help his feeling of unease. Something was going to happen tonight, something that may well change the course of this war for good. The 14th had warned him of this, and although Allen didn't know why, he felt inclined to believe him.

In truth, Allen was one step ahead of Cross, he had already known the 14th was trying to take over his mind and use his body as a vessel. The night after he came back from the Ark the 14th had appeared to him in his dreams and told him as much. But even as the words came out of his mouth Allen felt he somehow knew already, both about the 14th and the terrible event that was to transpire that night. However, the 14th also told him one last thing before Allen woke up: do not interfere. Along with Cross's urgent words that instruction lingered in Allen's mind. It was difficult, Allen knew he couldn't trust the 14th, and that to listen to what he said was foolish, and yet... Although the 14th was not an ally, he also wasn't an enemy and never once had he lied to Allen.

There was that feeling when the door had closed on Cross, the feeling that Allen would never see him again. While Allen tried not to think of the worst case scenario he couldn't help but wonder if Cross's fate wasn't linked to the events of tonight. Of course, the thought of Cross dying was ludicrous but still... These thoughts continued to whirl in his consciousness until he began to feel his eyes grow heavy and the world faded to black.

************

Allen opened his eyes to see that familiar crescent moon shining down at him. He was relieved to find everything as it had been before, for some reason he had feared that his inaction tonight would change to landscape of his dreams.

"What an odd notion." said a voice from behind him.

Allen whipped around, knowing who the voice belonged to and realised that something had changed after all. Rather that the shadowy and almost featureless creature that usually stood before him, there was a young man. He had dark hair and yellow eyes and bore a striking resemblance to-

"Tyki?"

The 14th smiled, bemused, and said,

"Not quite. I'm afraid I've been quite rude and neglected to show you my true form until now. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Nea, Noah of Destruction."

And with these words he offered his hand as though he wanted Allen to shake it. Instead Allen stepped back, cautiously, and asked the question that had been plaguing him ever since he left Cross.

"Who am I?"

For a moment Nea looked slightly disgruntled at being rebuffed, but at Allen's question his face lit up with a knowing grin.

"Ah, so you've finally heard about that, have you?"

"You know I did," said Allen, annoyed, "you see everything I see."

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But as I've already told you, today is far from a normal day." Nea sighed dramatically and continued, "Sadly today I could barely see, much less hear what was going on around you."

Allen still wasn't entirely sure whether he could trust Nea's word, but so far he had never tried to deliberately deceive Allen, and he knew for a fact Nea had a vested interest in keeping him alive. Nea was still looking at him, doubtless waiting for an account of the day. Allen was about to open his mouth to explain, but quite suddenly he felt as though telling Nea what Cross said would be a mistake.

“Well, you still haven’t answered my question.” said Allen, projecting a note of impatience into his voice. To his surprise Nea laughed in response.

“You’re unusually restless today Allen. But do you seriously think I’m just going to give you that kind of valuable information for free?”

“Valuable? That information is completely useless to everyone except me!” said Allen, indignantly.

“Hmm, are you so sure about that, Allen? I can think of at least thirteen people who I’m sure are _dying_ to know who you are.” Nea had been smirking throughout the whole of their exchange but at those last words his smile grew so wide Allen was surprised his face didn’t split in two.

“But they don’t-”

“Oh, but they do, Allen. They’ve known ever since that stunt we pulled with the Ark.”

Allen took a moment to consider this new information. If what Nea said was true, he was in a lot more trouble than he had anticipated. However Allen couldn’t help but think it was extremely odd, that if the Noah knew that the 14th was currently residing in his mind, they hadn’t yet done anything to tell him as much. It was exactly the kind of thing he would have expected of them, given how much _certain_ members of the family seemed to like causing him pain. What’s more, under any other circumstances he _would_ be thoroughly miserable about the fact he had a Noah in his head, trying to take over his body. But there was something, a feeling he couldn’t explain, that made him feel as though Nea was meant to be there.

“Hey! Pay attention when I’m talking to you!”

The sudden voice threw Allen out of his reverie; he looked up to find Nea glaring at him. Sighing, Nea continued,

“Anyway, I’m surprised you actually listened to me about not interfering tonight. I could feel you getting all anxious before you fell asleep. You’re right by the way, Cross _is_ involved in tonight’s events.”

“Did you, or did you not just tell me you couldn’t work out what was going on today?” asked Allen, irritably. Nea opened his mouth and tried to say something but Allen cut him off, “And another thing, how do you know what’s going to happen? You said you’re the Noah of Destruction, not Clairvoyance.”

“Well I’d explain if you’d let me-” Nea shot back, but was interrupted by a huge tremor that shook the entirety of Allen’s dreamscape. There was suddenly a strange look on Nea's face and he seemed on edge. Then the spoke quite abruptly:

“Goodbye Allen. Thanks for that little chat.” With that Nea disappeared leaving Allen with even more questions than he’d started with.


	2. Dreaming

Another tremor shook Allen's dreamscape, this time so strong it sent him crashing towards the ground.

_What on earth?_

Suddenly a blinding pain seemed to explode in his head, he put his hands to his face and hissed at the unexpected agony. Then just as quickly as it had come, the pain disappeared, along with the furious tremors that had been shaking the earth mere seconds ago. Allen got up cautiously, afraid that if he moved too suddenly the shaking would return. However the earth seemed to have exhausted its rage and the world was strangely still. Allen couldn't help but think that it was eerily beautiful. He hadn't had much chance to properly explore his dreamscape, as when he was usually there, his attention was focused on Nea.

The world was dark, it seemed to be night, with a huge white moon engulfing the sky. All around him were skeletal trees and next to him a large white lake. Abruptly Allen recalled the first time he came there, a long time it seemed to be now, back when he was still trying to repair his Innocence after the catastrophic damage Tyki Mikk had done to it. He remembered the moon and the trees and the lake, and then something else... He hurried over to the lake wondering if the vision he had seen was still there. Yes. Reflected in the surface of the lake was the moon, but now black against a white sky. Ruined buildings floated beneath him and sitting atop the tallest one,

"Lenalee!"

Allen called out to her, wondering if she could hear him. Her hands covered her face as though she were crying and she sat completely motionless. Allen also remembered the shadowy figure that had stopped him when he first tried to reach her. He now knew this to be Nea, but what possible motive could he have had for stopping Allen reaching through the water?

Allen suddenly felt compelled to get as far away from the lake as possible, something was wrong. Not in his dreams but in the waking world, those tremors he had just felt, had that been...?

"I'm sorry Allen but I can't let you wake up quite yet." He could hear Nea's voice but his body was nowhere to be seen. "You see, if you wake up now there's every chance you'll end up interfering, and believe me when I say that's the last thing you want right now."

"How do you know all this? Why can't I help?" Allen yelled at the sky.

"You know too, Allen. You just have to _remember_."

"Remember what?"

But the world remained silent.

Allen was becoming rapidly more frustrated with Nea than he recalled being with anyone, excepting perhaps Cross. The Noah insisted on giving him half-truths and half-predictions, always holding back vital information, as though telling Allen everything would cause the end of the world as they knew it. For some reason seeing Nea's true form had thoroughly rattled Allen's nerves, and perhaps it was just the uncanny resemblance to Tyki, but Allen felt an incredible resentment towards Nea. It was as though a long sleeping anger had awoken within him, and although Nea was proving to be a useful informant and ally, Allen couldn't help but wonder what his true motives were.

Upon first encountering the Noah in his subconscious Allen had been tired, terrified and paranoid. The stakes were unspeakably high, with almost all of his dearest friends temporarily dead and his last hope of their revival lay with his worst enemy. However, thanks to a combination of adrenaline, relief and exhaustion, Allen didn't truly recognise the significance of Nea's presence until their second encounter. It was then Nea had announced his intentions to take over Allen's mind and body. Unsurprisingly Allen had not taken this well. He distinctly recalled an all-consuming combination of fury and hopelessness that drove him to try and skewer the Noah were he stood. Sadly, Allen passed right through him and Nea proceeded to explain that he wasn't a strong enough presence in Allen's mind to take on a physical form yet.

At first Allen had taken this explanation at its face value, but increasingly through Nea's actions and advice, Allen was beginning to doubt his word. His odd ability to know the future, along with his extremely vague advice was causing Allen to recall a long forgotten memory. He could feel its presence in his mind, just barely unremembered, pushing its way to the surface... But once again it faded into obscurity, just as it had before...

Allen sighed dejectedly and slumped to the floor. While visually stunning, there really wasn't much to do in his dreamscape. Just as he was starting to wish he'd never agreed to Nea's request in the first place; an idea struck him. Every time he came to his subconscious, he always appeared in this small clearing, was it possible he could control where he was in this world by willpower alone? The possibility was fascinating, but Allen wasn't quite sure how to go about testing it. For once in his life he wished the science team was there to assist him, as they would surely have some sort of designated procedure for such things.

The first thing to do, he thought, is to explore and see what actually exists inside this dream world. He didn't particularly want to trek through the forest, strange and dark as it was, but what with it surrounding him from all sides, it seemed to be the only option. He made his way cautiously through the trees and now that he looked more closely, there was a slightly faded path through the forest. He found himself wondering if it was made by Nea or himself. The thought unnerved him and he began to walk more quickly.

_When I'm not here this must be where Nea "lives". I wonder if he knows what I'm thinking all the time? That must be pretty tedious_.

"It is, I assure you."

Allen couldn't help but look up at the sky in surprise.

"Stop gawking at the sky every time I speak to you. I'm not floating in the heavens." said Nea, irritated.

"Well where are you then? Why can't you speak to me like you did before?"

"Without trying to hurt your feelings Allen, I feel considerably safer when not in my physical form around you."

"Safer? What...oh." Once again Allen was taken back to the second time he met Nea, when he'd made a decent attempt at slicing him in two.

"Yes, precisely." said Nea, and Allen thought he heard a slight tremor in the Noah's voice. "Although, I should tell you that you can't kill me with that sword. Nevertheless, I'm not all that keen on being impaled with it."

"You didn't seem to mind earlier, and I'm hardly threatening you."

At that statement Allen heard a hollow laugh that seemed to come from every direction.

"Oh Allen, aren't you listening to your own thoughts? It's just as you say, I hear what you think, I know what you feel. When you came here you wanted to ask me a question, you wanted answers that I could not give you. I feel your resentment Allen, your pain and confusion. I know you are angry. I know you feel helpless. You may not be threatening me, but I can tell when my presence would cause unnecessary suffering."

"Then why are you still inflicting your presence upon me?"

"I want... no, _you need_ to learn how to block me out. If either of us is going to be able to live without killing each other, then you need to be able to block me out."

"But don't you want to kill me?"

"Allen, please, stop with these pretences. I do not want to kill you, I want to take over your body and use it as my vessel. Trust me on that if on nothing else. If I destroy you in here then your body will shut down, that is not something I desire."

"What are you talking about? Explain more clearly, stop being so vague."

"I cannot kill you. Not in here, your subconscious, and not out there, your body. If either dies the other will shut down and cease to function. Even if I take over your body, your mind must remain, or your body will simply die."

If Allen was confused earlier then that was nothing to what he felt now.

"But isn't your mind sufficient for that? I thought that was the idea of possession?" Allen asked.

"Once again the normal procedure is flawed due to our... unique position."

Suddenly the earth began to shake once more this time with more intensity than ever before. The usual black of the sky was fading and turning to white.

"My goodness, is that the time? I really wish we could stay and chat a bit longer Allen, and that's not just me being polite, but it looks like it's finally time for you to get some answers!"  
With that, everything faded to white.

 


	3. And the World Breathed In

A blinding light shone into the room hitting Allen square in the face. He slowly opened his eyes, still dazed from the troubling exchange he'd just had with Nea. For a brief moment, he wondered whether, now that Nea had physical form, he could actually hurt him with his sword. 

_Is it morning already?_

Then suddenly he remembered. _Last night! Wait, where's Tim?_

Tim was hovering near the door and kept flitting back and forth, seemingly very agitated. Allen carefully got up, taking care not to wake Johnny or Lenalee.

"What's wrong Tim?" he whispered.

Apparently sensing he had Allen's attention, Tim whizzed out of the door and down the hall. Closing the door as quietly as he could, Allen ran after him, barely able to keep up with the golem. As he was running Allen recalled his thoughts the night before and gradually felt his heart sink, as he realised Tim was taking him along the path that led to where Cross was staying. As he got closer it became increasingly obvious that something had seriously upset the temporary peace at the Order. He could see members from Central scattered everywhere, he hadn't known there were so many staying with them. Then he rounded a corner and saw Cross's door hanging open and muted voices within. Tim didn't bother to wait for him and flew inside. Allen stopped running and walked slowly towards the door, with each step an intense dread grew within him, until he reached the door and peered inside the room.

The window was broken and blood was splattered everywhere. Kneeling just in front of it was Komui and to his side Lvellie was standing tall and severe as always. Komui had noticed Tim, who had flown to the window and he turned to look at Allen. All of a sudden Allen felt compelled to give an explanation,

_"Tim just suddenly got up... and came here... is that... blood?"_

He hadn't meant to say it, the words just flowed involuntarily from his mouth, like lines from a play he had spoken so many times it was now instinct. With this realisation, a crushing mass of information blared into life within his mind. He had watched this scene before, and spoken those very words, and just afterwards the reality of the situation had hit him - Cross was gone. Seemingly dead from the amount of blood around the window, but Allen couldn't really bring himself to believe it. Cross was indestructible, an ever present force in the War and in Allen's mind, and his death, especially at this point, was inconceivable. No, it wouldn't do to leap to conclusions and there were more worrying matters. That brief flash of memory - he had recalled this scenario exactly. Had that been what Nea was pushing him to remember? For this was certainly the troubling "event" he had been so desperately urged away from.

Allen stood frozen in place. More and more questions filled his mind, suffocating his thoughts and paralysing his body.

Where was Cross now?

Why was it necessary for him to let this happen?

Who did this?

What did Nea really know?

And the ever present and gradually more terrifying question:

_Who am I?_

For now though there was only one thing to do. In fact he couldn't do anything else, it had already happened and nothing would change it.

_"... Let's go Tim."_

As he turned and walked through the door, he wondered whether this feeling of being compelled to walk was Nea's influence. He quickly brushed this thought aside however, the compulsion felt different to when he was talking to Nea, it was all-consuming. Just thinking about trying to do otherwise made his head grow cloudy and numb. It was not until he was out of the door, and in another part of the building entirely, that his actions were once again his own.

The room he had ended up in was not his. It was dusty and neglected, and Allen sincerely doubted anyone had been in it for years. Yet it seemed important that he was here. Why, after walking for ages, would he stop here of all places? At first glance there was nothing significant about the room, it was almost devoid of objects, the only things that stood out to any degree were the table in the middle of the room and a cardboard box in the corner. Both these things were, like the rest of the room, covered in a thick layer of dust, and in the table's case some pretty impressive cobwebs. Allen decided to examine the box first, there didn't seem to be anything particularly interesting about the table.

What was inside the box wasn't overly enthralling either. There was a little money (which Allen swiftly pocketed), a bag with something round in it and a vial with what looked suspiciously like a chemical mixture in it. Almost as soon as he made this observation the mixture started to bubble violently and a strange hissing noise filled the room. It didn't take Allen long to grab the bag, along with whatever was inside, and sprint out of the room and onto another floor. He took note of the door number as he ran out and resolved to complain to Komui about it whenever he next saw him.

It was only in going to the staircase and looking down to check he had slammed the door behind him, that his attention was drawn to the odd stillness in the air. It had been there earlier as well, although back then it was fraught with tension, as Cross had just been discovered missing. It was different now, empty. The silence was almost suffocating. There was no one there, the entire Order seemed to be gone, there was not a footstep to be heard within the whole building but his own. Now that Allen thought about it, it was very strange that the Central members had been up and about when he first went to Cross's room. They couldn't yet have known what happened, as Allen had gained the impression that Komui and Lvellie were the first on the scene. Now there was no one in sight, not a member of Central was there, this was even more unusual, as Allen knew he was supposed to be under strict surveillance.

The stillness was starting to alarm Allen so he thought about where he was sure there would be people. The most obvious place would be Cross's room, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be empty again for quite some time, however just going near it made him feel nauseous so that was out. Then an idea struck him. The room he had been waiting in with Johnny and Leenalee. It was unlikely they had already left, and even if they had, Allen would surely run into one of them on their way out.

He began to walk along the path to the room but broke into a run, his uneasiness was becoming almost overwhelming and the sooner he saw someone the better. He once again found himself inside that grand room, on the sofa, as he had predicted, he saw the back of Leenalee and Johnny's heads. They didn't appear to have moved an inch. Allen decided it would be best to gently wake them, and walked to the other side of the sofa, placing a hand on Lenalee's shoulder and gently shaking her.

"Lenalee..." he whispered. But she didn't stir. He repeated her name, a little louder this time, but neither of the two moved. This time he spoke louder, not shouting, but as though he were talking to someone far away.

"Lenalee! Johnny!"

Still they remained asleep. This caused Allen to panic a little and he took both their pulses just to be safe. Both were fine. There was something not quite right though, and it took Allen a minute or so to put his finger on it. They were stiff, not as though they were asleep but fixed in place, almost... frozen. Then something clicked in his mind, and he looked up, over the pair of them to the wall on the opposite side of the room. On the wall was a clock, and the clock had stopped.

 


	4. Frozen

Allen felt his heart skip a beat. Words rang in his head, from a long time ago:

_"Destroyer of Time"_

That prophesy Hevlaska had told him, was it finally coming true?

**Perhaps. But time hasn't exactly been "destroyed" has it?**

Allen was immediately on full alert, never before had Nea been able to speak with him when he wasn't unconscious, was he being taken over at last?

**Ahaha...** The laughter was light and slightly malicious. **I wish.**

Allen considered for a moment snapping at him aloud but felt it would be too ridiculous. 

_What do you want?_

He tried to think the words angrily but quickly found that the voice in his head would not comply.

**You really need to practice thought-speech don't you?**

_Shut up._

**But then how am I to explain my presence?** Allen could hear Nea's voice shake with barely repressed mirth.

_Get on with it then._ He was quite proud that he had managed to sound rather irritated in his head.

**I could just not you know. With that attitude I'm inclined to let you work it out yourself.**

For a moment Allen could have exploded with frustration, but thankfully he recalled their previous exchange and put all of his being into imagining Nea being tortured in steadily more horrible ways. After what might have been anything between five minutes and half an hour (having a non-functional clock really was an inconvenience) Nea responded.

**You are a sick child. Stop. Now. I mean it. I'll tell you anything you want.**

_Good._

Nea gave an exaggerated sigh.

_First of all, what's going on here?_ Allen gestured at the clock to indicate his point.

**Well, to be quite honest with you I'm not sure. When I first spoke it was to draw your attention to the fact your powers aren't working as they ought to. As to why that might happen, you'd be better off asking someone with more experience of Innocence. Although that's going to be quite a problem if you can't work out how to restart time.**

_How exceedingly helpful._

**Less of the sarcasm please, I'm actually trying to help you.**

_Under duress._

**Hmph. Well I am here for a reason. Namely to get started on that whole "blocking me out" thing. That would be great.**

_Sure. Just as soon as I restart time. I don't think I need to tell you why this is a problem._

**And I shouldn't have to tell you I can't help.**

Once again Allen was not inclined to believe Nea at his word. The fact he had powers relating to time at all was significant, and he got the distinct impression that Nea already knew this. He had also sensed a cageyness about Nea when he'd pressed him on it. It was also becoming increasingly obvious to Allen that, although Nea was being very persistent regarding the need for a mental barrier between them, Nea didn't actually know everything Allen thought. After all if he did then surely he would try and stop certain trains of thought from reaching their conclusion. For example, the brief thought Allen had had, just after waking, of trying once more to slice Nea when next in his dreamscape, now that he had a defined physical form. And the one he was having right now.

**Hey! What are you doing? Everything's gone strange.**

Allen looked up suddenly at the unexpected sound. While concentrating on his conversation with Nea, Allen had become unfocused and lost sight of the real world for a minute. It was just as well, as the real world itself had become unfocused with him. Everything was a blur. Objects seemed to bleed into each other. Was the material beneath him the floor or the ceiling? Both the people sitting on the sofa seemed to be melting into it and each other. The door and windows had lost all definition and were now shapeless portals into light.

Then just as soon as he focused once more on the room, it regained its shape. To Allen's intense relief the odd bleeding effect didn't seem to be in any way permanent.

_What was that?_

**If I were to guess, I'd say your lack of focus on the room caused it to slip into a state of unreality.**

_Doesn't that imply I have control over every factor of this room's existence?_

**Um. Yes. You picked that up remarkably quickly.**

_I thought I had time powers!?_

**You do. It's just that to stop time you need to control every facet of whatever you're using your powers on so that it doesn't fall back into the normal timestream. Stopping, reversing or skipping time requires a lot of focus because the "Chronologer" needs to actively separate the object they're "shifting" from this dimension to a different one so that time no longer effects it and.... Goddammit.**

_Something you want to tell me?_

**F- ... You know what? No. I have nothing to tell you. At all. And I meant to do that. To tell you that stuff I mean.**

_Uh-huh. Whatever you say._

**It's because you could have gotten us killed if you'd have let the world become obscured again. That would be awful for both of us.**

_Yes, it would... Am I a Chronologer?_

There was a long pause, and Allen could almost feel Nea debating with himself on the matter. After another five minutes with no reply Allen started to explore the now "paused" world. Now that he knew time had stopped he wondered how he could ever have missed it. The world was unnaturally still, the only sound in the air was his own slow breathing, it was as though for one long moment reality itself had stopped and held its breath. Almost unconsciously Allen wandered toward the table just in front of the sofa, on it was a book, evidently from on of the numerous shelves that lined the room. A memory suddenly resurfaced.

He was standing in the room, there was someone else there, telling him about it.

"This library has been here for an age. Within it is all the knowledge you desire, should you be able to find it."

Allen didn't know who the person was, they, like the memory, were vague and nebulous. The memory quickly faded once again.

It would make sense for the room to be a library, being filled with books and all. Allen tried picking up the one on the table, then as he was about to open it an idea struck him. Allen slowly loosened his grip on it, losing focus of it until he wasn't holding it at all. Rather than bleeding into the surrounding area as everything had before, the book remained held in mid-air. Well, what Allen could make out of it was held in mid-air, he had to allow it to just barely remain in his vision and only indirectly think about it to keep it there. Then he moved back towards the book stretched out his arm underneath it then looked straight at it. As he had predicted, it immediately fell into his hand.

**What an unutterably useless experiment.**

Allen couldn't help but smile slightly to himself at Nea's irritation, but decided not to further provoke him.

_Oh, you're back then._

**As though I had ever left. And I would if I could believe me.**

_I'm sure... Are you going to answer my question?_

Nea replied slowly and deliberately, as though he was taking great care with his words for fear of saying something wrong.

**You are... not quite a Chronologer, as I would call it. Almost. But not... It's difficult to explain.**

_It's okay. You can explain everything another time. For now can you just tell how to unstop time? Fun as it is being able to mess with stuff, I really need to talk to someone that isn't a slightly demonic voice in my head._

And with a note of relief in his voice Nea replied,

**Heh, yes. I think I can do that.**

 


	5. Trust Me

**Well, the first thing you should do is put down that sack thing you're holding.**

It took Allen a second to work out what Nea was talking about, before realising he was still holding the bag of whatever he had taken out of the room with the hissing chemical in it. He quickly put it down on the sofa opposite Lenalee and Johnny and opened it. Inside was a small round ball. It looked as though it was made of glass, although there seemed to be something trapped in it, something pale and bony. Allen quickly recoiled from the glass ball, or perhaps more accurately, the glass egg. He suddenly heard a voice being cleared.

**If you're done getting distracted?**

_What is that thing?_

**As you deduced, it's an egg. Not a natural one though, this looks like it was made with sorcery.**

_W-will it hatch? Did Cross make it?_

**Ehehe, a well reasoned assumption. Maybe? It probably won't hatch I mean, whatever's inside it looks pretty dead to me, but we can't be too careful. Perhaps present it to the science team. As for Cross being the maker... it sounds like something he would do, but the sorcery is different to his. It's not the Earl's either, in case you were wondering.**

Allen carefully placed the egg back into the sack. He couldn't help but shudder as he did so, whatever was inside it clearly wasn't a natural being.

**Anyway, regarding how to unstop time. It's quite simple when you get down to it. All you have to do is find out how you're stopping it, then stop doing that.**

_It would be simple if I knew how I was doing it, which I don't, by the way._

**The first thing to do is identify when you first caused it. I'll give you a hand and say it was definitely after you activated that chemical, you couldn't have done that if time was stopped.**

Allen thought back to the room and the chemical, he remembered racing out of the room, with the bag in his hand. He remembered the door number and heading to the floor above, where he had looked down just to make sure that the door had been closed, it had been just then-

_I think I've got it._

**Yes, that would seem about right, but now we know that, it brings up another problem - how are you doing it? There doesn't seem to be anything significant that caused you to stop time. Then again I could be missing something...**

Allen cast his mind back once again. Why would he cause time to stop? There was only one thing he could think of, but it didn't quite match up.

_Nea?_

**Hello.**

_What happened back then in Cross's room? It was strange, like I couldn't do anything myself. It was as though something was controlling me._

**Oh, you noticed that, did you?**

_Yes, it was confusing, if I tried to think about what I was doing everything went fuzzy. It still does, even if I try to remember it now._

Allen was also pretty sure that it was what had caused him to stop time, but he kept his mind carefully blank whenever his thoughts began to stray in that direction. He didn't want Nea to divert and not answer him again, and so far it seemed to be working.

**Allen... I can't explain. It's complicated, but take my word for it that you really, really don't want to know what happened back there.**

_Why on earth should I when you keep on refusing to answer my questions? It could be a valuable piece of information that simply disadvantages you. I can always ask other members of the Order you know._

At this Nea gave a sharp, bitter laugh.

**And who precisely are you going to ask? The all-knowing Cross is gone isn't he? Who do you think will possibly be able to answer your questions?**

_Hevlaska perhaps? She seems to know all there is to know about Innocence. If it comes down to it I can ask the science team, or even one of the research branches._

**Look, I can tell you this, the the timeline of this place has gotten pretty messed up recently.**

_The timeline?_

**Yeah, the sequence of events. Someone's been messing with time and "resetting" certain events so they happen differently. To clarify, there are certain events which cannot be changed - constants throughout every timeline. Any other events are variables - they can be changed if someone has the power.**

_So what happened back there was a constant? That's why I had to say those words and go to that room._

**What happened back there is when things get complex. It's what's called an forced constant. It used to be a perfectly harmless variable but because of the sudden amount of timelines being created in such a short period of time, it turned into a constant. It's almost like a defence mechanism, in order to stop more timelines being created, the universe forced this variable into being a constant, thereby significantly lowering the amount of timelines that could be made.**

_Umm, right? So essentially, someone's made a bunch of new timelines by resetting certain events. All of the timelines are concentrated around this period of time. To stop more timelines being made, a variable was made into a constant so there were less possible outcomes. Am I getting this so far?_

**Yes exactly!**

_Why didn't you want to talk about it?_

**I was reluctant at first because giving you that information could cause an entirely new set of constants and variables, then we would never find out who was messing up time. Then I realised that's already happened so it doesn't matter much anymore.**

_What do you mean "it's already happened"?_

**Well I wouldn't have been able to even think about talking to you about it if it hadn't already happened.**

_Alright enough! Enough about timelines! Let's just get time unpaused okay? Okay._

**We still don't know how you did it.**

_You still don't know how I did it. I'm pretty sure having to go through a "forced constant" messed me up so much I had a delayed reaction to it, which manifested as time stopping._

**Well it makes sense in theory...**

_Great. Now how do I stop stopping time?_

**You have to keep your mind completely blank. Think without thinking. Allow everything around you to become insignificant and concentrate on nothing.**

_I'll... try?_

At that moment Allen stopped thinking about Nea, although he could still feel his presence in his mind. He allowed the world to become blurred, he found it was easiest to concentrate on nothing by concentrating on everything. When you concentrate on everything nothing is focused, so technically you're concentrating on nothing. Then he heard a voice.

**Allen you can stop now.**

Allen looked at the clock. No time had been lost, it had started where it stopped. Suddenly Allen felt a profound exhaustion, it was like his very soul was tired, even his bones ached. He had come here for a reason though, and he once more tried to rouse the two still sleeping on the sofa. He reached over to Lenalee's shoulder and shook her gently.

"Lenalee..." he whispered.

Slowly she began to stir.

"Allen?"

 


	6. Find her

For some reason hearing her voice filled Allen with an intense relief, it felt like so long since he had spoken to one of his friends, even though it had probably only been a few hours. This feeling didn't last long however, as the exhaustion he felt was now threatening to overwhelm him, and it was all he could do to keep his knees from buckling under him.

"Allen, are you alright?"

He smiled at her and then manoeuvred himself onto the sofa beside her, and it was just as well, as he could feel himself shaking from the effort of standing up. Lenalee stared at him, concerned.

"You've gone very pale Allen, has something happened?"

Allen thought carefully about his answer. He felt very distinctly he shouldn't tell her about the time powers he'd suddenly manifested, he needed to know more about them before mentioning them to anyone. Hevlaska, he was sure, had already noticed, but somehow he doubted she would mention it unprompted, especially with the disturbance of Cross's disappearance taking top priority. It occurred to him then that Lenalee would still be unaware of this, and it would make a nice cover story for why he was feeling so strange.

"General Cross has disappeared."

Immediately her face registered the effect of these words. She visibly blanched and he could see the information had shaken her. She then stared at him, looking even more worried than before.

"Oh Allen, I'm so sorry." She whispered.

Sorry? That hadn't been the response he had expected. Alarmed might be closer to the mark. Cross was a valuable asset that they had just lost - possibly for good. No... he wasn't letting his thoughts go down that dark route, that would only end in misery. Then quite suddenly he caught himself. Something he just said... no something he kept on saying. Since when had he referred to Cross as "Cross"? He remembered always calling him "Master", it had been an infuriating force of habit he had never quite managed to get rid of. But now it felt odd, unnatural even, to call him that. What had changed? It might also have contributed to why Lenalee looked so worried, if anyone would have spotted the difference then it was her.

He then realised she was still staring at him. Damn his internal monologue.

"I'll be alright. He wasn't exactly my best friend."

But he was Allen's best source of information that wasn't some shifty former-Noah that lived in his head.

**_I can still hear you._ **

_Go away._

In any case he didn't need anyone worrying about him. It had the very real possibility of drawing attention to his time-powers, honestly he was starting to get very paranoid about anyone finding out about them. Which was odd seeing as they were probably more natural than most of what he was going through right now.

"Are you sure? You look... upset."

Did he? He didn't feel particularly upset. In fact he felt oddly apathetic towards Cross. To be honest, what with all the other bizarre time-related things that had happened to him, finding out that Nea was much more active than he had previously thought and discovering that the other Noah were aware of this, he hadn't really been able to process Cross's disappearance properly. Perhaps that's why he could feel tears on cheeks. When had he started crying? He wasn't sure, but he knew he wanted it to stop. Now.

"Do you have a handkerchief?"

He felt a little embarrassed at just crying unexpectedly like that, he didn't even feel all that sad. He was still beyond exhausted though, and the overload of information that Nea had just given him caused him an emotional strain the likes of which he hadn't had to deal with for some time. Lenalee smiled softly and reached into her pocket, swiftly retrieving a handkerchief. Truly the woman was a saint.

He quickly wiped his eyes and gave it back to her; his tiredness then decided to make its presence known by causing his entire arm to ache like he'd broken every bone in it. Honestly it was rather worrying, perhaps he should go to the medical section? He quickly brushed off this idea, he'd probably just overexerted himself using his time powers like that. What he really needed to do was go and see Hevlaska to ask about these powers.

He looked up at Lenalee again. She was still looking at him, not at all judgemental, just concerned. He was glad he had friends like her. He got up slowly, careful not to strain his already battered body.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Back to my room... I need some time alone."

It was a lie, but one he could live with. If it made sure Lenalee wasn't too worried about him. Besides it may not be wise to tell her precisely where he was going, as it was bound to raise unwanted questions.

She smiled at him sadly.

"Well if you want to talk to any of us, we're here, okay Allen?"

"Yeah."

He hadn't meant to sound quite so deadpan but there was nothing to be done. He quickly strode out of the room, hoping she would just chalk it up to his being upset. Now he was out in the corridor he realised precisely how difficult this little venture was going to be. It was going to be nigh on impossible for him to talk to Hevlaska without being noticed. At least she wasn't in the centre of the building anymore. That would have been even more conspicuous. Now that time was back to normal, he had no doubt that it would only be a matter of time before Headquaters was swarmed with Central members again. He had to get to Hevlaska, whilst avoiding any one in the building, get an answer from her, make sure she didn't tell anyone else and get back to his room before that happened. This was going to be interesting.

It struck him that what he really needed to do right now was to stop time again, but the extreme pain he was experiencing was enough to make that a last resort. Not even to mention the fact that it was going to be very difficult to navigate Headquarters without attracting the attention of anyone there. Especially after his reaction to Cross's disappearance. He quickly made a mental map of the building and tried to guess where people were likely to be. It rapidly proved to be an exercise in futility, there was barely anywhere that wouldn't be occupied at that moment in time, and certainly no paths to Hevlaska. Then he had an idea.

He knew he had about half an hour before Central would start to get active, and slightly longer before anyone realised he was gone. Since the inside of Headquarters was out of the question he would just have to use the outside. There was a window just above his head.

_Perfect._

It took Allen seconds to get up to the window, open it, and balance himself on the pane outside. It came to him surprisingly easily, he hadn't really done much building climbing (although he had had to do some - thanks for nothing Cross). It was like he had learnt to do it once and was now just remembering how. Odd. In any case, he quickly manoeuvred himself down to the ground using mainly holes in the wall and convenient windows. Once on the ground he looked for an unoccupied room on the bottom floor - the nearer to Hevlaska's Chamber the better. Eventually he found a promising looking window that peered into a dusty old living room, decked out with a sofa, fireplace and a bookcase. It was one of the rooms that hadn't been renovated yet and from what he could remember, it wasn't due for it any time soon. There was just the small matter of breaking in. Now that was something he was good at.

Once inside, he acknowledged that if Cross had done anything for him, then teaching him how to crack locks was probably the best. He took a cursory glance around the room. It was completely abandoned. Then, just as he took a couple of cautious steps toward the door, everything went dark.

He heard a voice.

"Quick! Through here."

He couldn't tell whose it was - but it sounded familiar. The room was coming back into focus, there were two other people in there, standing by the bookcase. Like the voice, he couldn't tell who they were - they were blurred, like what had happened when he lost control of his time powers. Then it hit him - the bookcase was open.

"Go through there and you'll come out into an underground river. Take the boat and go. Never come back here - they _will_ find you."

It was the same voice as before. It was filled with panic, something bad had happened, he could feel it.

"But wait - how will I find you again?"

It was another voice this time and one that was a lot more recognisable - his own.

"I can't tell you right now, we don't have enough time. I'll get in contact once this has blown over over. Until that happens take this," the person handed a glowing object over to the other him. Allen didn't need to guess what it was, it had the unmistakable shape of Innocence. "Keep it safe. Go into hiding - you know the places. Now leave - quickly!"

With that the other him disappeared through the passage behind the bookcase. The person then slammed it shut and made a movement with their hand along with a strangely familiar incantation.

The room faded out again and Allen found himself back in the present. The room was still deserted.

 


	7. What do you mean "it was a vision"?

Allen was extremely disorientated. Although he was now back in the present he could still feel echoes of the past in the room, a deep panic was settled in his throat and he could feel himself shaking with a mixture of adrenaline and anxiety. There was no question he had just seen himself, but he had no memory of the exchange he'd just witnessed. Thinking back he seemed to remember that, although it was hard to make out, the room had seemed newer somehow. There had been no dust on the furniture or the subtle smell of decay that now permeated the room. Reason told him that meant the scene had taken place in the past, and indeed that would be the most logical conclusion what with the various time-related incidents he had been involved with lately. But something nagged at the back of his thoughts - what if it wasn't the past, and if it wasn't what was it?  
  
There was one upside to the vision that was more immediate and less troubling, that being the sudden discovery of a relatively secret passage to Hevlaska's Chamber. Shelving his questions for the moment, Allen made his way over to the door. Just as he moved past the old sofa a thought struck him: he had no idea how much time his vision had taken up - if any. Deciding it was better to be safe rather that sorry, he assumed it was around the length of the exchange in real time, so about five minutes. This didn't significantly impact on his plan, but did serve to quicken his pace. He tried to remember the oddly familiar incantation used to close the bookcase, figuring it probably worked both ways. As he moved his hand and uttered the words, he felt a kind of peace within, like he was meant to do this. It wasn't the same suffocating sensation associated with constants - forced or otherwise, but just a soothing normalcy, as though he had been doing it all his life.  
  
Sure enough, the passage swung open with a hiss and a blast of cold air that hit Allen in the face. The passage was dark, along the walls were torches, although all of them were unlit. Allen, who kept matches on him at all times as a matter of principle, lit one of them and removed it from its bracket on the wall, holding it up and illuminating the passage. Quickly turning and closing the bookcase behind him, Allen proceeded into the darkness. What little he could see of the place told him it hadn't been used in a significant amount of time, there were cobwebs lining the walls and large cracks in the floor. Just as he was wondering what he was going to actually say to Hevlaska, someone interrupted him.  
  
**_Miss me?_**  
  
Much to his embarrassment, Allen jumped back and collided with the wall. Laughter rang in his head.   
  
_Nea? What-_  
  
**_Calm down, calm down._**  
  
Allen wanted to scream at him, but quickly decided against and instead started marching down the corridor in a furious silence.   
  
**_I can still feel your bad mood, you know._**  
  
_Oh, I do._  
  
In fact, Allen was allowing his fury to cloud his head to such an extent he almost didn't notice the sudden drop at the end of the passage. It took some rather spectacular foot work for him to avoid plunging to, if not certain death, then certain broken limbs. He slumped to the ground.  
  
**_Ooh, that was a close one. I suppose I'm lucky residing in someone with such a quick reaction time.  
_**   
_Oh, shut it._  
  
**_Oh my, something really has rubbed you the wrong way, hasn't it? Tell me, was it that vision you just saw?  
_**   
_It wasn't a vision! It felt more like... a memory.  
_   
At that, laughter rang out once more, causing Allen's temple to pound like someone had swung a bat at his head.   
  
**_Hahahaha... Ugh, my nonexistent ribs hurt._**  
  
_Care to share the hilarity?_  
  
**_Just... wow, I wish I had a memory like yours, being able to go somewhere and trigger a flashback that lets me literally watch what took place. Mine are usually confined to staying within my head, and actually taking place after I was born!_**  
  
_Staying in my head? That was in my head._  
  
**_Was it? Generally when I think about times gone by I can still see what's in front of me.  
_**   
... _Touché. Though you still have no place talking about visions before or after you were born Mr. Clairvoyant. Besides, it had to be a memory of some kind, I was in it!_  
  
For moment after these words there was dead silence. All Allen could hear was the sound of his heartbeat. He could feel Nea's thoughts, properly this time. It was as though he was right next to a hurricane, watching the destruction but trapped on the outside, unable to clearly see what was happening within. Then all at once the hurricane subsided, and Allen was left alone with only the sound of his breathing. Then, Nea spoke.  
  
**_...What did you say?_**  
  
_I...I was in it. You saw that too though right?_  
  
**_How did you know it was you? The vision was blurred. You could barely see what was going on.  
_**   
_Yes, but I know my voice when I hear it, and I know Innocence when I see it, even if it is kind of blurry. I have no idea who the other person was though, although now I think about they did seem familiar.  
_   
**_Allen, tell me exactly what you saw.  
_**   
_You saw it too though. You were asking about it half a minute ago._  
  
**_I know, just humour me for a second okay?_**  
  
_Fine. I saw two people standing by the bookcase, the room looked newer. One of them was clearly panicked, the other was nervous and confused._  
  
**_How could you tell?_**  
  
_I... felt it I guess? Their voices made it kind of obvious, not to mention what they were saying.  
_   
**_Right, right continue.  
_**   
_Well, then the panicky person spoke, and opened the bookcase. They really wanted the other person to get out of there, it sounded like something seriously bad happened. Well, then the other person spoke and I could tell it was me.  
_   
**_What did he say?_**  
  
_Who, me or the panicking person?_  
  
**_The panicking person._**  
  
_They told me to get out and never come back, it sounded like someone was after me. Then they gave me the Innocence and said they'd get in contact after whatever happened blew over. I got in, they closed the bookcase, the end._  
  
**_Yes, I see now._**  
  
_As opposed to earlier when you also saw, but apparently didn't after I mentioned I was there?  
_   
For a second, Allen thought Nea was going to shout at him, but then;  
  
**_Hehehe, damn, aren't you sharp today? I knew I chose you for some reason.  
_**   
_Much as I appreciate the flattery, you haven't answered the question.  
_   
**_Who says it's flattery? It's also insanely annoying. You're keeping me on my toes, Walker. But what the hell, I'm feeling generous. Certainly I saw what you did, I guess you just have... a different perspective.  
_**   
_Loving the detail you're giving me here. I should be taking notes, there's just so much information.  
_   
**_Cross was right about you. You're a snarky little pest.  
_**   
_Maybe you should tell me about your delightful conversations with him?  
_   
**_Yeah, no, for that you're on your own.  
_**   
_I wish I was._  
  
With that, Nea's presence vanished front the front of his mind, being replaced by a dull headache that Allen couldn't tell was from his earlier Innocence use or from the conversation he'd just had. He picked himself up off the ground and peered over the precipice. It was going to be a long climb.  



	8. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - there's quite a bit of blood in this chapter and the aftermath of a violent attack.

By the time he had made it to the bottom of the cavern, Allen found his choices severely limited. It had taken much too long to climb down, and his conversation with Nea had also cut into the little time he had left until Central started wondering where he was. He had also had to leave his torch at the top of the cliff, so the cavern was shrouded in darkness. Allen felt his way along the walls, his hands sliding along the damp rock. The floor of the cavern was filled with shallow water and he could feel the unpleasant sensation of water soaking through his clothes into his skin. He still couldn't think of a way to get Hevlaska to stay quiet about his visit, or about his powers for that matter. Under normal circumstances, Allen would stay as far away from her as possible and hope for the best, but with Nea's presence growing and the potentially catastrophic nature of his new powers, he couldn't leave the matter up to chance. In the distance he could see a dim light. He ran along the rest of the passage, now just barely visible. The light was getting stronger, Allen slowed until he came to stop. For a moment there was silence.  
  
"Oh, shit."  
  
Lying in the water was the prone form of Hevlaska. Her huge, snake-like body was coiled tightly in agony and there was a long gash in her forehead. Blood was streaming down her face and into the water, staining it a dull red. Allen had no idea whether or not she was still alive. He stumbled over to her, wading through the bloody water, which was now up to his knees.  
  
"Hevlaska?"  
  
He reached out a hand.  
  
"Hevlaska, can you hear me?"  
  
Suddenly something grabbed his leg. He leapt backwards and clapped his hand over his mouth to suppress a scream. A voice thundered in his head.  
  
**Do not be alarmed. It's only me.**  
  
_Hevlaska?_  
  
**Indeed, but I see I am not the only one here.**  
  
Panic gripped him. If Hevlaska knew about Nea then-  
  
**Relax child, I have known of his presence for some time now.**  
  
_Wh-what happened to you? Who did this?_  
  
**There was a rift in time.**  
  
_A time rift?_  
  
**Yes, something came through it. It came rushing into my chamber, reeking of dark energy, and then it did this to me.  
**  
Upon the word 'this' Allen felt a strong compulsion to look at her head wound.  
  
_How?_  
  
**I am not certain, the only thing I can recall is the aura of the creature. It was like the most twisted parts of the human psyche, left in the darkness to fester. It was one of the most terrible things I have ever seen, and I have lived for a century.**  
  
_Will you be alright? Should I get help?_  
  
A deep, humourless laugh sounded through the darkness.  
  
**It is far too late for me child, we have but a little time left to speak, then I fear my part in this play is over. The being which did this to me is very powerful, and it still resides within this timeline. It made a mistake, however, when it injured me, and I am now able to see all the cracks and contortions of the timestream, however briefly. Listen closely now child, for I will tell you what you must do.  
  
First, go to the Ark, within it are memories, which you must find and collect. Then go to places where you have previously collected Innocence and find the memories of the Order which were left behind. It is of vital importance that-**  
  
Suddenly Hevlaska's whole body gave a spasm of pain, thrashing wildly in the water, causing the chamber to shake violently and large ripples to form in the water. Her bleeding was getting worse, and even in Allen's head, her voice began to shake.  
  
**I am sorry Allen, our time grows ever shorter.**  
  
_But why? Why do I have to collect the memories? And how will I do it anyway - it's not like they're tangible.  
_  
**You will understand when you see them. As for why? A rift in time has opened and you must fix it.  
**  
_But I-_  
  
**Do you know what time rifts are Allen? They are points where the Universe itself has shattered. I do not know how much you know about forced constants or time travel, but I know that powers of such a nature have recently been opened to you.**  
  
_I know about forced constants._  
  
* _Thanks to Nea_ *, he thought privately.  
  
**Then you are aware that an unnatural amount have formed around this period. They have finally torn this world apart, and unless you do something the rift will spread, with it more beings of the kind that attacked me, ultimately dooming all Universes. To stop the rift, you yourself will have to travel through time.  
**  
_Why are there so many forced constants though? Someone had to have made them - and known what would happen if they made too many.  
_  
**You are right Allen, someone did make them. I can see far ahead, into the future. Something truly terrible will happen, and someone, so desperate they would risk the Universe, went back in time to try and fix it.  
**  
_Then that means that whatever caused the event, it happened around now?  
_  
**Yes. But it would seem that whoever it was failed in their task. Failed many, many times. You see it is not the rift itself you must prevent, but whoever caused it.**  
  
_And these memories will help me?  
_  
**We can only hope so. You are very important in your timeline, which means the disturbance when you were removed from it was substantial enough to give you control over time itself.**  
  
_Removed? What the hell are you talking about?_  
  
**Do you not know? You are no more a part of this timeline than the creature that attacked me, I was under the impression that was why you sought me out.**  
  
_No, I... I... wanted to know about my powers. I don't trust Nea.  
_  
It felt good that he could finally think it properly rather than fearfully suppressing the thought whenever he felt Nea's presence in the back of his mind.  
  
_Where am I from? If not here then... But everything seems so similar._  
  
**Your visions were warnings of this, child. Being displaced in time can cause memory loss or reality to blur. Those scenes you saw happened in your own time, they are a part of the memories you must collect.  
**  
_I have to remember every vision I have?_  
  
Allen cringed slightly at the thought of the mental strain that would cause him.  
  
**No, there is a more permanent way of collecting them. I believe your companion can assist you with that, as I am afraid our conversation has drawn to a close.**  
  
Hevlaska's voice grew steadily weaker, now almost whispering.  
  
**You must go now, Allen. If they see you here with me I am sure they will assume the worst.  
**  
She took a shaky breath.  
  
**Get to the Ark and tell no one of what has occurred. There are enough rips in time as it is.  
**  
Allen could now barely hear her as her voice faded from his mind.  
  
**Trust no one but yourself my child, even your mind is at war now…  
**  
_Hevlaska?_  
  
Allen felt the tentacle around his leg release its hold and slide down into the water. Hevlaska gave one great shuddering breath before becoming completely still. The chamber was silent. Hevlaska was dead. Allen ran as fast as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter got pretty intense without me intending it to. The story also took a bit of a turn. Thanks to all those that are reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. Lost in the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting poor Allen through a bit of a ringer lately, so hopefully the next chapter will be a bit more fluffy. Thanks for reading!

As he was running, Allen was vaguely aware that the people he passed were held perfectly still, vaguely aware that time must have once again stopped. Everything passed as a blur, faces and rooms and corridors. All merged into one horrific, nightmarish reality. Before he knew what he was doing, Allen was in the Science Section, running into the Ark, and all at once lying on the floor, staring up at the artificially blue sky, wondering how it had come to this. He took a deep, steadying breath and gritted his teeth. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears, it felt like he had split his head in two. Black dots started to creep into the edges of his vision, slowly blacking out the sky. He heard a soft buzzing which steadily became a loud ringing. It was difficult to breathe. The world faded to black.

Allen awoke in darkness, everything around him was black and suffocating. For a moment he thought he was dying, before realising that he was actually underwater. He seemed to be able to breathe just fine, but he had no idea which way was up. He span around and in each direction the world was equally dark. One solution would be to drown and let his body float to the surface, but Allen would rather avoid that option. He could just swim straight ahead of him and see if he reached the surface or the floor, but he ran the risk of just swimming on into infinity. He had realised by this point that he was probably in his dreamscape, having just passed out and all. The trouble was he had no idea where he might be, certainly there was a lake he knew of, but that lake had Lenalee at the bottom, and this lake (or perish the thought, ocean) had no Lenalee in sight.

Allen cast his mind back to when he was last there, he remembered forming a hypothesis – that he could theoretically teleport himself around his dreamscape by will, providing that he knew where he wanted to go. Now seemed like time to test this hypothesis, as, although he wasn't hurt in any way, he was getting frightfully wet. Maintaining a similar concentration to when he had restarted time, Allen closed his eyes and thought about the empty plaza just in front of Lenalee's lake. Then quite suddenly, he fell to the ground. Opening his eyes, Allen registered that he was exactly where he wanted to be, then wondered precisely what was going on. The forest, which usually eerily surrounded him at all times, was now decidedly on fire.  
  
For a moment, he considered transporting himself back to the body of water he had previously been in, but decided against. He then wondered whether he could conjure himself a bucket, to take water out of the lake and pour it on the fire, or better still, will the fire itself away.

“I wouldn't try that if I were you.”

"Hello, Nea.” Replied Allen, making a concentrated effort not to appear surprised by the man’s sudden appearance. “And why shouldn't I? It's the most logical course of action.”

"Oh, ye of little faith. It's because you can't put out that fire from in here, however much you want to. You'd have to wake up to do that.”

“And you know that, how exactly?”

Nea moved towards him, smiling ghoulishly.

“I have my ways, not that you'd believe me if I told you. After all, you don't trust me, do you?”

Ah, yes. Allen had almost forgotten that particular part of his conversation with Hevlaska.

“You really think now is the time to discuss trust issues? We run the risk of being burnt to death, or having our minds erased, or whatever it is that happens when a significant amount of your dreamscape is on fire.”

Nea hadn't stopped smiling.

“Oh, goodness no. We're no more at risk of being burnt to death than you were of drowning in that water, nothing can hurt us in here. Although, you're right about that fire being a problem.”

“Well what are we going to do about it?”

“We aren't going to do anything, you however, are going to wake up and stop it.”

“Fantastic, and what will I have to do to stop it?”

“Well for a start, try restarting time again. Oh, and I suggest you hop to it, because if you keep going like this you will die of overexertion.”

"Wait, so my time powers cost me energy now?”

Nea sighed.

“They always have Allen, ever wonder why you were so tired after restarting time?”

Allen had expected as much, but had had slightly more pressing issues to deal with at the time.

“How do I wake myself up? I did just pass out.”

“Oh, I can sort that out for you.”

With these words, Nea smiled even more broadly and stepped even closer to him, making him feel more than a little uncomfortable.

“Woah, what are you doing?” said Allen, taking two steps backwards.

“Waking you up, of course.”

Nea then pushed him backwards, into the lake which he had been backing towards, completely submerging him in the water. Just as he was about to swim to the surface to give the demon a piece of mind, something happened to the surface of the lake, something that looked suspiciously like fire. He tried to swim upwards but found that this time the water was starting to fill his lungs. In a panic, he desperately tried swim more quickly, but he was being dragged ever deeper into the lake, his limbs were becoming unresponsive as less oxygen reached his brain. He looked down, searching for the familiar face of Lenalee below him, but everything had faded to black.

Nea stood alone, staring at the now flaming lake, well, the now flaming everything. Fire surrounded him, growing ever stronger the longer time remained stopped. He sighed and turned, and began walking towards the forest. Following the same path he had followed for thirty five years, he wondered whether this, of all things, would be his final undoing.

Allen awoke in darkness again. For a second he wondered whether he had really just died, but then realised he was staring at concrete. He rolled onto his back, and sure enough the sky above him was a startling and all together too bright blue. His throat was dry and his head was still aching, but he knew instinctively that if he delayed this any longer then both would become a thousand times worse. Settling himself once more, he cleared his head, closed his eyes and went into the trance-like state that allowed him to control time on a whim. He only stopped when he realised that behind his eyelids, everything had gone disturbingly dark. He opened his eyes again, to find that his assessment had been correct, as the usually white buildings within the Ark had gone a dull grey and the formally clear sky was now clouded and dark.

Allen jumped to his feet and started to head for the door that led back to the Science Section before fully registering what had happened in the past half hour. He was going to be blamed for Hevlaska's death. He was a fugitive. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye to anyone. Not Lavi, or Lenalee, or Crowley, or even Kanda. Everyone was lost to him now. He fell back to the ground, partially due to the overwhelming feeling of loss, and partially due to the extreme pain that was now coursing through his body. Then just as he felt as though he would never be able to get up again, it happened.

He was no longer in the Ark, he was standing in a field. The sky was red. The ground had been scorched black. He felt older somehow, older than time itself. He was holding a sword, his Innocence. The field was empty, not a sign of life could be seen for miles and miles around him. The same sense of loss filled him, but it was familiar now, constant. He closed his eyes and breathed in, the smell of smoke and ash and death threatened to overwhelm him. Then the scent changed. Rain and books. He opened his eyes. He was back in the Ark.

“ ** _HELLO?_** ”

Nea's voice pounded in his eardrums worsening every aspect of everything. It hurt to move the muscles in his face, but he still managed to scowl at Nea in protest. Wait, at him? Allen stared in confusion. In front of him, ghostly and not quite there, stood Nea. He was bending over and looking at Allen like he was responsible for every misfortune Nea had ever experienced. Apparently satisfied that Allen was, in fact, awake, he spoke.

“ ** _Well, look who's finally back from dreamland._** ”

Allen rose tentatively to his feet, trying to minimise the pain and still staring, bewildered, at Nea.

“How are you here?”

“ ** _I was about to ask you much the same question._** ”

“I, unlike you, have a physical form. It makes perfect sense I would be here.”

“ ** _No, no, you misunderstand. I was under the impression you caused this._** ”

Nea gestured pointedly at his body.

“Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't. At least, I didn't do it consciously.”

“ ** _Great, now I'm stuck out here, in perfect reach of all my enemies._** ”

“I wouldn't be so sure, try walking through that wall.”

Nea tilted his head, clearly wondering whether Allen had finally cracked under the strain.

“Don't look at me like that. You look like some sort of ghost to me, so maybe you can go through walls?”

Nea peered at him doubtfully, but walked over to the nearest wall. Cautiously he raised his hand, touched it and then pushed, phasing his entire hand through the wall. Nea looked at Allen with genuine surprise.

“ ** _It worked._** ” He said, now staring in wonder at the wall.

“Of course it did.”

“ ** _Don't be so cocky._** ”

Nea now decided to test the theory to its limit and walked through the wall. He then walked back out again, looking absurdly pleased with himself.

“ ** _I have so much freedom! Joyd really won the lottery with this power. It's not nearly as good as mine of course, but still._** ”

Allen cleared his throat trying to gently remind Nea of the task at hand.

“ ** _Ah yes, I suppose you want to know what's going on here?_** ” He said, pointing at the sky.

“Actually I was kind of wondering how to stop the Order from thinking I killed Hevlaska and clear my name, but I guess knowing what's wrong with the Ark would help too.”

“ ** _It's a bit late for clearing your name, they know you have a Noah in your head. Anything you do from now on, be it good or bad, will be automatically assumed to be from my influence. Even if you could prove your innocence (which you can't) they'd still never trust you._** ”

“Great, precisely what I wanted to hear, excellent tact and people skills there.”

“ ** _Allen, listen. I'm telling you now, as a friend, to forget any illusion that your life will go back to the way it was. I know you miss your friends and that recent events have shaken you, but you will see them again. I promise._** ”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“ ** _I'm Mr. Clairvoyant, remember?_** ” He said, playfully punching Allen on the shoulder. “ ** _Besides, if I recall anything about your friends, they aren't going to lose faith in you, even if everyone else does._** ”

“Yeah, that's them.” Said Allen, wiping the tears from his face. When had he started crying? “Anyway, you going to tell me what's happened to the Ark?”

“ ** _Yeah, let's get started on finding those memories like Hevlaska said. That should help your memory if nothing else._** ”

“Let's hope so.”

 


	10. Into the Past

“So, what exactly is going on here?”

They were now walking towards Nea's room, which was, according to Nea himself, the most likely place to find a memory.

**_“In layman’s terms the Ark’s shut down, which is lucky for you, because it automatically locks all its doors. The Order won't find you in here.”_ **

“Well that's… a relief, I suppose.”

**_“Don't sound so blue, it buys us more time to figure out what's going on. You’ll have to close the door to Headquarters when we turn the Ark back on though.”_ **

“Yeah, I'd kind of guessed that. Is there any particular reason everything’s gone grey?”

**_“Oh, that's not because it's shut down, it's a reflection of your emotional state. This place now recognises you as one of its “administrators” like me, and as such will bend to your will.”_ **

“Can I make it slightly less cold?” asked Allen, shivering and clutching his coat around him.

**_"Not while it's turned off genius!”_** said Nea, laughing. **_“But you should be able to once it's back online.”_**

“Good.”

They walked some more, in companionable silence. After a few minutes, Nea spoke:

**_“We're almost there.”_ **

“Why is so far to get to your room without teleportation? This had to of been inconvenient.”

**_“Hey now, just because the door to the Order is far away from my room doesn't mean everywhere is. Besides, I like privacy.”_ **

“Yes, I could tell by the complete lack of doors and windows in your room. How are we going to get in anyway? I seem to remember Cross using sorcery to get in last time and while you may be able to walk through walls, I certainly can't.”

**_“Don’t worry I, unlike Cross, know how to get in.”_ **

“I suppose the Noah didn't know how to get in either, going by its continued existence.”

**_“How to get in? Please, they didn't even know where it was. As much as I enjoy impossible structures, even I can't build a Joyd-proof room. To tell the truth it doesn't really exist on this plane of reality.”_ **

“Oh God.” Muttered Allen, sensing more headache-inducing explanations. Nea apparently noticed this because he smiled bemusedly at Allen then opened his mouth to speak, but Allen quickly cut him off.

“I really don't need an in depth explanation of how your room works, especially if it's as complicated as my time powers. All I need to know is how to get in.”

**_“Oh, it isn't nearly as complex as them. It's just basic sorcery really, although it does have links to your powers. You remove objects from the time dimension, I remove them from the space dimension. Simple really.”_ **

“How didn't the Earl find it? I hear he's quite the sorcery master.”

**_“Allen, credit me with enough intelligence to make it impossible for the other Noah to access. You can't plan a coup without a base, can you?”_ **

“Humph, well I still don't see you showing me the way in, genius.”

**_“That all depends on whether you’re prepared to do some more sorcery. You still seem quite tired from overusing your time powers.”_ **

“I am, but I think the sooner we find these memories the better, don't you?”

**_“Ha, well spoken. Don't overdo it though, the last thing I need is my host dying on me.”_ **

“So what do I have to do?”

**_“Watch me and repeat the words and movements.”_ **

Nea demonstrated the spell and Allen watched carefully as he moved his hands. He then copied Nea, and once again a feeling of peace settled over him. As soon as the last word left his lips a hole seemed to tear itself open in front of him ripping the air apart and exposing the familiar inside of Nea's room.

**_“Impressive.”_ **

Allen glanced over at Nea who was looking appreciatively at the portal.

**_“I didn't think you'd get it the first time around.”_ **

“Why? I've done sorcery before.”

**_“Not without my help you haven't. This is some excellent sorcery though, did Cross teach you any?”_ **

“No. The only thing he taught me is how to live on the streets and fight Akuma.”

**_“Useful skills for someone in your position.”_ **

“I'll be the judge of that.”

**_“Hahaha, fair enough. Shall we?”_ **

Nea extended his hand towards Allen, who promptly walked through it and into the portal. Nea rolled his eyes and followed.

The inside of the room was much the same as when Allen had last seen it, a mirror on one wall, the piano in the centre and a sofa off to the side. Unlike the rest of the Ark, however, it had maintained its blinding white interior. Allen was somewhat gratified to see that he and Nea now appeared separately in the mirror.

**_“You going to close the door or what?”_ **

“It's just the same spell again right?”

Nea nodded in confirmation. Allen closed the portal and watched transfixed as the space seemed to collapse in on itself until there was just a blank spot on the wall. He turned to examine the rest of the room.

“So how will I find these memories? It's not like I can see them. Do I just stand around and wait until I get a vision or something?”

**_“Oh goodness no, that would be horribly inconvenient. Besides you can see them, provided you know how to look.”_ **

“I have magic vision now do I?”

**_“I'm sorry, are you not the only person in the world that can see the souls of Akuma or am I just imagining that?”_ **

“Akuma souls yes, memories no.”

**_“You'd be surprised what you can do with that eye, Allen. Try activating it now.”_ **

“I can't just activate it on command, that's not how it works.”

**_“It does now. Have you tried using it since I woke up?”_ **

“No, but-”

**_“Just try it Allen. Don't worry, it should come naturally.”_ **

Allen sighed and thought about how to go about activating his eye. He thought about how he felt whenever it activated, it was automatic, a reaction to sensing a nearby Akuma. Then again, so was his Innocence and he could activate that whenever he liked. He concentrated on looking at the world around him, trying to get it to shift somehow. Suddenly the edges of his vision went dark. He turned and the mirror behind him was now a black void, the room had grown brighter and the shadows had grown darker. Something was different as well… the piano. It wasn't white like the rest of the room, it glowed a light blue, and the air around it seemed darker than everywhere else.

**_“See something?”_ **

“The piano is glowing, I suppose you can't see through my eyes when you're like that.”

**_“No, but I don't really need to. To be honest it's much more convenient having my own set of eyes.”_** Nea paused and looked at the piano, tilting his head slightly. **_“So it's this old thing. I can't say I'm surprised though, it has quite a bit of sentimental value.”_**

“What do I do, play it? I hope the memory isn't stuck in there though, it'll be a job to haul that thing around with us.”

**_“Aha, no. I'll show you how to change the memories into a more convenient form once you see this one. And yes, you'll probably have to play it. Well, to convert it into a different form anyway. The key is to interact with memory holder in the same way as whoever did in the memory. For now, just sitting at the piano should let you see the memory.”_ **

“Okay.”

Allen walked over to the piano then tentatively sat down. For a moment he thought it hadn't worked, but then everything suddenly went black. He heard a voice behind him and the world began to fade in again.

“…and this is my room.” Allen couldn't mistake that voice if he tried, it had been more or less the only thing he'd heard for hours. He turned and sure enough it was Nea. He looked younger by three or four years and there was a slightly less tired look about his face. Right now he was smiling widely and beckoning someone else over to him. He hadn't noticed Allen there, and Allen hadn't supposed he would of, this was, after all, only a memory. The person he was talking to seemed to be coming over, because he opened the portal wider and stepped inside.

“Beautiful isn't it?” He said, the question apparently directed at whoever was outside the portal.

“It's very much your style I'll give it that.” The voice was extremely familiar, wait... he'd heard it in a vision before. No it couldn't be-

Then he walked through the portal and Allen's fears were confirmed. It was him.

He looked older than he did now, more serious, but somehow less world-weary. He had glasses, which was strange, because he didn't need them now, and his hair was longer. It was the same unnatural shade of white though, it seemed trauma was unavoidable no matter what life he lived. He looked at Nea, bemused.

“I suppose this is your “base” then?”

“The one and only. How do you like it?”

“It could use some organisation.”  
  
His past self was right, in sharp contrast to the nearly bare room at present, this one, while still a pristine white, had bookshelves, a desk, a table, a sofa and several uncomfortable-looking chairs. That wasn't to mention the amount of paper, it was everywhere, all over the desk, sticking out haphazardly from books, you wouldn't have been able to sit on the chairs even if you'd wanted to, because they were covered in it as well. It reminded Allen strongly of Komui’s workspace, although it was much cleaner. Nea walked towards the desk carefully avoiding the paper scattered over the floor.

“That's what I have you for, my dear. I have no doubt this place will be organised into alphabetical folders by the time you're done with it.”

“I hope none of these documents are important, because I will tread on them.” His past self was trying to manoeuvre his way over to the sofa (the only thing barring the piano that wasn't covered in paper) without ruining anything, and so far was doing a pretty good job.

“Not to me, but I do know someone who'll be very miserable if you do.”

“This is your brother’s work then?” Past Allen asked, dropping onto the sofa with a sigh. “I didn't think he would be the type to throw his work all over everywhere.”

Nea smiled. “Hmm, you haven't seen him when he's working on a project have you? I can assure you that all of this mess is very strategically placed.” He said fishing out a book from under a mountain of paperwork. “Well, it is to him, anyway.”

“Method in the madness then. What have you got there?”

“A music book.”

“Going to play me a piece? How sweet of you.” Allen had to smile slightly at the sardonic tone of voice. Nea raised his eyebrows.

“No, but you're going to play one for me.” He then threw the book at Past Allen's head. Fortunately, it seemed Past Allen had good reflexes, because he caught it without batting an eye.

“Any preference?”

“One from the back for a change.”

Past Allen then rose and started making his way over to the piano. Allen briefly wondered what to do, he might stop the memory if he stepped away from the piano, on the other hand he wasn't at all keen on his past self sitting on him. He decided to risk standing up. It seemed that he didn't need to stay in contact with the memory holder for the memory to play, which was useful if the memory started to move into other rooms. Past Allen finally reached the piano and sat down at it. He opened the book at the back and flicked to a random page. Nea had made his way over to the piano to by this time and perched himself on the edge of it. Then he began to play. It was quite an upbeat tune, like the kind a marching band would play, and for a while it was just that. After a minute or so, however, the piece started to get more intense, and with it the room began to change, the mirror turned black, then splashes of colour appeared, until gradually they made a scene. It was a garden, on a hot-looking sunny day. It looked like it was somewhere in the Mediterranean, the entire thing was very picturesque.

“That looks nice, I wouldn't mind spending a day there.” Nea observed, pacing over to the mirror.

“Well I certainly would.” Nea sent him a questioning glance. “It looks horrendously hot for one thing, and for another it’s right in the middle of a danger zone.”

“I thought that business in Italy had blown over?”

“Well it hasn't, at least not according to my contacts.”

“Fair enough, we’ll leave it for today.”

Past Allen played a short chord and the mirror returned to normal.

“Actually I should probably check on my brother, he said he'd be here by now.” Sighed Nea, opening the portal once more.

“Well I'm coming with you, goodness knows I have nothing better to do.”

“As you like.”

As they walked towards the door the room faded out once more and back to its original, empty state. Nea looked expectantly at him.


	11. Soul Fragments

“ **Well, what's the news?** ”

Allen blinked, trying to get used to the drastic difference between the room he had just been in and the one he was now sitting in. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts sufficiently to answer Nea's question.

“I was there, you knew me.”

“ ** _Hmm, I thought you might be._** ”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

For a second, Allen thought that he saw a flash of pain cross Nea's face. But it was gone as soon as it had come. Nea smiled.

“ ** _I thought it was obvious, what with me now living in your mind._** ”

“Cross told me you just transferred your soul to the nearest living thing when you were dying.”

“ ** _That would be where Cross happens to be wrong. You offered to become my vessel, it was never a part of the plan._** ”

“What? Why?”

“I don't know, and seeing as I was bleeding out and close to death, I didn't take the time to ask.”

“ ** _You were close then_**?”

Nea closed his eyes and turned away slightly, still smiling, but now obviously quite upset.

“ ** _In a way, I suppose._** ”

He spoke quietly, like a person in mourning. Allen wasn't quite sure what to do, he could hardly try and comfort the man, seeing as he himself was the person being grieved over. He was still trying to process that the man in the vision must have once been him. That reminded Allen that they did in fact have work to do. He quickly decided that distracting Nea may perhaps be the best way to proceed with the grieving situation.

“I played the piano in the memory, would I have to play the same tune to get it out of the piano?”

Nea seemed somewhat relieved at being asked about something other than Past Allen.

“ ** _Yes, I'm afraid so. Can you remember it?_** ”

“Yes, but not well enough to play it note for note. I don't even play the piano.”

“ ** _Don't worry, I have a feeling it will come back to you once you start to play._** ”

Allen was moments away from pressing the keys when he recalled a very important part of the memory.

“Wait, when Past Allen played this, a portal opened in the mirror, he said it led to a danger zone. What if that happens now?”

“ ** _Past Allen?_** ”

“My former self, that's what I call him”

“ ** _Hehe, he wouldn't of liked that. Go ahead though if it makes talking about him easier._** ”

“Aren't you going to tell me his name? I assume it wasn't Allen.”

“ ** _No. But I'm glad you told me about the portal, it would certainly be troublesome if the Ark was online. Fortunately for you, it's not, so you can proceed without worry._** ”

Allen was slightly rankled by the change of subject, but complied. Nea was right, the music came back to him as effortlessly as it had before, when he was restoring the Ark to its former glory. As he played, his vision suddenly changed, the piano was brighter now, and pulsing with light. He almost stopped playing, but continued on, and with the piece building to its climax the light surrounding the piano seemed to grow upwards in a spiral, spinning itself into a helix shape and becoming steadily more compressed and bright. Then, at the final crescendo, the light tore itself away from the piano and became a blinding beacon of blue energy, forcing Allen to close his eyes at the intensity of the light. When he reopened them, the world was back to normal, and a piece of paper floated down, landing on top of the piano.

“ ** _Well, well, well, someone certainly has untapped magical potential. I didn't even need to tell you how to change the memory at all._** ”

“It just did it by itself, I didn't do anything.”

“ ** _On the contrary, I saw you activating that eye to streamline the process. Tell me, what did you see?_** ”

“The light I told you about, surrounding the piano? It went spiralling upwards into a helix shape, then, at the very end of the piece, it turned into ball of light so bright I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again there was this piece of paper.”

“I ** _see, or rather, I don't, that's your job. But that's very interesting, it means these aren't really memories, they're pieces of someone's soul. If I were to guess, it would be the soul of whoever caused this mess in the first place._** ”

“But I was in that memory, and I haven't gone back in time.”

Nea just looked at him in a way that conveyed wordlessly that he thought Allen was an idiot and needed to listen to people more carefully. Allen conceded the point.

“Fine, but Hevlaska said I was time-displaced not that I'd gone back in time.”

“ ** _True enough. And you're right about these particular pieces of soul not belonging to you. They rightfully belong to whoever was here before us, the “real” Allen or indeed the “real” me of this timeline._** ”

“Well, where have they gone? How can they be the ones screwing everything up?”

“ ** _I have no idea, I can't really remember anything before you woke me up on the Ark, and neither, it seems, can you. However, I was aware that we were no longer in the world where we were before, so I assume that's around the time you replaced whoever was here before you. Maybe they died? Maybe they got time-displaced too. If they did, then it's entirely plausible that the “awful event” happened to them and resulted in this sordid state of affairs._** ”

“I follow you, so this paper contains the person from this timeline’s memory, or soul fragment or whatever. Is it written on it or something?”

As he said this, Allen reached for the paper, but as he was about to touch it, Nea intervened.

“ ** _Don't you want to put on some gloves? Unless the memory was so nice you'd like to see it again that is._** ”

“You mean to tell me a soul fragment, a fundamental part of someone's being that can only be influenced by magic, can be blocked by a glove? I was wearing clothes when I sat on that piano and the memory still played.”

“ ** _You'll notice that rather than being forcibly displaced and put in a piano, this memory is all neat in written format for viewer consumption, and is therefore less… forceful, shall we say, at getting its message across. So yes, wearing gloves will prevent you from being consumed by a vision, and will allow you to simply read the events on paper._** ”

“Fabulous, and I don't suppose you have any gloves on hand for this kind of unique situation?”

“ ** _Well as it happens Allen, I am in fact an intangible projection of a soul trapped in your mind. So even if I did have gloves on my entirely imaginary person, I would not be able to give them to you. It's a regrettable situation, but those are the rules of the game._** ”

Brushing off this sarcastic rebuke, Allen wrapped his hand in his sleeve and grabbed the piece of paper, folding it in two and putting it in his pocket.

“Can we turn the Ark back on? It's getting really cold in here.”

“ ** _Well the instrument to do so is at your fingertips, so to speak. It will, however, require considerable magic use, so I can't advise it until you've recovered from your earlier mishap._** ”

“I feel much better now, and besides, I was able to open the door to this place and extract this Soul Fragment, wasn't I?”

“ ** _Both those spells utilise a structure where very little magical energy is lost, that's why I allowed you to perform them. This piano is one of my earlier and less polished works, and as such requires a lot of energy to use, energy that I'm afraid you are lacking at present._** ”

“I had no problem using it when this entire place was crumbling, and I assure you I didn't exactly have much energy back then either.”

“ ** _Not much physical, or Innocence-related energy, no. But as you may have noticed, magical energy is different. You happen to be quite lucky in possessing an abnormal amount of magical potential, and as a result, the first time you used the piano it barely affected you. What's happening right now is a different story._** ”

“Is there a limited amount of magical energy someone can possess? Will mine eventually run out or something?”

“ ** _No, that's not quite the way it works, magical energy can be slowly regenerated – much like normal energy. You, however, are in possession of a very high amount of energy which was completely unused until you touched my piano. As such, the spell barely affected you, draining a comparatively small amount of your energy._** ”

“But you make it sound like I was using magical energy to stop time, I thought that was my Innocence?”

“ ** _Not entirely, in fact I'll come clean and say I'm not precisely sure how you've been managing it. As you may have guessed, I know a lot about the rules of time travel and time-based sorcery, and to some extent that's what you've been using. However, your Innocence is certainly involved in your powers, and if I were to guess, I'd say it's what caused us to be time displaced originally._** ”

“Well, it's been working fine so far.”

“ ** _You'd think so wouldn't you? Who's to say you aren't getting confused, after all, I'm still not sure when exactly we were displaced, not to mention the artificial memories you have of this world._** ”

“I'm pretty sure it was when you told me some “great event” I couldn't interfere with was coming.”

“ ** _Was it?_** ”

Nea was frowning and looking into the distance, almost as though he were in another world.

“Well, I can always test my Innocence if you really want to know.”

These words seemed to snap Nea out of his reverie and he turned to look at Allen.

“ ** _I can't advise that, for much the same reason I can't advise you using much magic._** ”

Allen raised his eyebrows at Nea.

“Seriously, I'm not that tired anymore.”

Almost as though fate had heard these words and decided to prove him wrong, he felt a familiar ache course through his body. He grabbed the piano for support and silently cursed his body for betraying him.

“ ** _Are you really?_** ”

Nea's voice was closer than before and Allen looked up to find himself face to face with the man, smiling in a decidedly too smug manner.

“ ** _Let me guess, you feel a dull ache permeating your entire body and intense pain whenever you try to move._** ”

“Shut up.” Allen managed to snarl, and Nea snickered at him.

“ ** _That, my dear, is the second stage of magical exhaustion. It usually comes on about half an hour after the fact, and is generally slightly less painful than the initial wave. In your unfortunate case, both are going to be very, very painful._** ”

“Why didn't you warn me?”

“ ** _You seriously think that if I had it would of stopped you?_** ”

“Fair point.” Allen muttered, slumping onto the floor and waiting for the pain to subside.

“ ** _In any case, once you feel up to moving, we can look around this place for more Soul Fragments. The first place I would go to is Raasura’s room. It's near here and it's tied with the top of the tower as “Most Likely Place to Find Out About Whoever Came Before Us”._** ”

“First of all, I need to know if I'm going to be suddenly struck down by horrendous pain again. Secondly, who the hell is Raasura?”

“ ** _Pain-wise you should be fine for another hour or so once this wave is over, after that you'll just be very tired and sore. Like if you'd just run a marathon. As for Raasura, he is the Noah of Wrath, I'm sure you've encountered him, certainly you were in his room at some point._** ”

“He used to go by Skinn Bolic I think, that must have been his human name.”

“ ** _Ah, yes. I'm afraid I don't know any of the new reincarnation’s names, save Road and Tyki, of course._** ”

“I don't see why you know their names and not Skinn’s.”

“ ** _Well for one thing, I knew Road before this mess. As for Tyki, he's been bothering you pretty consistently, not to mention the fact you mistook me for him._** ”

“Fine, fine.”

Allen could feel the pain draining away, leaving him with a sense of exhaustion. He cautiously rose to his feet.

“ ** _Feeling slightly better?_** ”

“Yeah, let's get moving.”

“ ** _After you._** ” Nea said, indicating the wall with his hand.

Allen opened the portal and stepped outside, into the endless labyrinth of grey buildings. It had now begun to rain slightly, making Allen wish he'd brought a coat. Seeing Nea had followed him through, he closed the portal and Nea led the way, as they walked towards a new Soul Fragment.

  
**A little while ago at the Order**

  
Lenalee was heading for the Science Section holding a small round bag and a tray of coffee, pondering Allen's recent behaviour. When he had woken her up to tell her about Cross' disappearance, he seemed distracted and unwell, he'd also started crying without seeming to notice what he was doing. When he left, and she had noticed the sack in the corner of the room, lying on the table. Assuming Allen had left it behind, she brought it to his room and knocked on the door, asking if it was his. There was no reply. She then went in, the door was still unlocked, and he wasn't there. It wasn't like Allen to disappear without telling anyone, but then, he was clearly grieving, and if he had just gone somewhere more quiet to process what had happened (and honestly she couldn't blame him) then she wouldn't draw attention to it.

What she did need to do, however, was take the sack to the Science Section, because when she'd glanced into it, there was what seemed to be an egg inside, and that should definitely be reported. What she didn't expect though, was for the Science Section to already be in chaos by the time she entered. The entire room was buzzing with activity and she was only able to catch brief snatches of conversation, where there was a frankly alarming amount of “dangerous chemical”, and “missing” being bandied about. As she made her presence known, by sliding the coffee onto the table and announcing she had something she wanted examined, however, the room ground to a stop. Around half the scientists practically dove for the coffee and the other half came over to her, asking what she had found. When Reever had managed to get most of them back to work, he explained the situation.

“I'm afraid we found an old chemical under the main staircase that has recently started producing a poisonous gas. Hence all this.” He said, waving at the somewhat frantic scientists. “Not to mention the fact that Cross has apparently gone missing again, which is the last thing we need.”

“Well I'm afraid I have more bad news for you Reever, I found this in the library.”

She opened the sack, and gingerly took out the egg.

“What on earth is that?” He asked.

“I have no idea, that why I brought it to you.”

Reever took it from her, clearly quite uncomfortable.

“Well, we’ll have a look at it, it's probably not dangerous, but you can never be too careful.”

It was at that moment, Komui walked in.

The room once more ground to a halt. There was a grim look on his face. An eerie silence enveloped the room.

“Hevlaska is dead.”


	12. Lvellie's Announcement

His words seemed to echo and fill the room, bouncing endlessly off the walls and repeating again and again, as the true meaning of what he had said settled over the room. The volume was starting to build as people started whispering to their neighbours, growing louder and louder, and just as the noise was about to become unbearable - a great crunching, hissing distorted _SCREECH_ drowned out all the voices. Everyone cried out in pain, some desperately clawed at their ears, others looked around in panic for the source of the terrible noise. Lenalee was in the latter group, trying to see if, despite their best efforts, the Akuma had found them. As it turned out, something far more alarming was taking place. The Ark door, previously a white crack in the wall, was now shifting and collapsing in on itself. It was like a giant whirlpool, spiralling into the centre of the wall and all the while making a terrible shrieking, until eventually the noise reached its peak and the door disappeared completely, leaving the entire room in a stunned silence.

 

Mere seconds after this almost every exorcist in the building burst into the room, each wielding their Innocence and frantically looking around for the perceived attack, and the room descended into complete and utter chaos.

 

Many questions were being shouted, “What do you mean, Hevlaska's dead?”, “What happened to the Ark?”, from the scientists, and, “Where are the Akuma?”, from the exorcists, but as both sides began to realise what had happened, one question grew louder than all the others: “Where’s Allen?”.

 

“QUIET!”

 

A voice bellowed out, and a grim silence descended over the room. It was Lvellie.

 

“It seems unnecessary to announce the matter I have come to discuss, given that almost the entire building now knows of what has occurred.” He walked to the centre of the room glaring imposingly down at everyone. Lenalee felt an intense surge of dread rise in her throat as he came nearer. “I will now endeavour to clarify the fate of certain member of our Order. Due to recent events and the absence of the person in question, we hereby brand Allen Walker a traitor to the Black Order, under the charge of murdering Hevlaska."

 

Unlike the earlier hesitation upon the announcement of Hevlaska's death, this time the uproar was instantaneous.

 

“I SAID QUIET!”

 

However, Lvellie had now stirred the ire of the entire room, and hateful whispers began to creep around the crowd. Then, Lavi stepped forward.

 

“What proof do you have to accuse Allen of killing Hevlaska? If you plan on announcing one of our most trusted members a traitor, then I demand an explanation.”

 

Murmurs of agreement swept through the room, although Bookman was staring at his pupil with clear disapproval. Lvellie looked mildly surprised at this outburst, but proceeded to answer, nevertheless.

 

“We have reason to believe that Allen Walker was in Hevlaska's chamber either at the time of the murder or at least very close to it, we found a buckle from his shoe in the chamber and his current absence makes him very conspicuous.”

 

Lavi looked like he was about to interrupt but Lvellie quickly continued.

 

“In addition, although we felt it necessary to delay to announcement, it has recently come to our attention that Allen Walker is currently the host for a Noah. As such, it is highly likely this Noah influenced him to carry out the deed, and as such, leaves him a traitor to our Order. Even if he is innocent of this crime, the presence of a Noah within the Black Order will not be tolerated, and it is on these grounds that we not only brand him a traitor, but demand that he is hunted down and killed.”

 

Nobody seemed to be able to think of a refute to this news, everyone had been stunned into silence. Lvellie seemed to be satisfied that there were no more questions about his policy, and turned to leave. As the door closed behind him, whispers began to creep around the room once more.

 

“Allen? A Noah? Who does he think he's kidding?”

 

“We can't argue with Central, who knows what they’ll do if we don't cooperate.”

 

“This is completely unfair, we should be trying to help him.”

 

“Personally, I'm glad we found out before he killed anyone else.”

 

“Keep it down, Central has spies everywhere. They might still be listening.”

 

Lenalee heard all of these exchanges, but her attention was focused on Lavi. He had been glaring at Lvellie with barely repressed fury ever since the announcement that Allen was a Noah. Bookman was also picking his way though the crowd towards him, doubtless to reprimand him for speaking out against Lvellie. However, before he could get close enough, Lavi started to stride angrily towards the door and quickly made his way out into the main corridor. Bookman appeared to give up, and instead sat in a corner, watching the crowd, as it slowly grew louder.

 

Lenalee followed him out. She too was furious about this sudden turn of events, but also knew that trying to reason with Lvellie was hopeless. Besides, Lavi had looked as though he already knew about Allen's situation, and she wanted to ask him about it. The corridor was dark, and neither Lvellie nor Lavi were anywhere to be seen. Then, framed in shadow, a figure appeared at the window.

 

"Lavi?"

 

He turned around suddenly, hand reaching for his hammer, but when he saw her face he seemed to relax. Lenalee send him a questioning stare.

 

“Sorry, I… I'm on edge lately.” He sighed deeply, then continued. “Lvellie had no right to do what he just did.”

 

“I know, but there's nothing we can do.” She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. “It’s useless trying to reason with him. Trust me, I know.”

 

Lavi laughed bitterly.

 

“Oh, I wasn't planning on it. The old man would have my head, I'm probably already in dangerous water for questioning Lvellie back there. It's just… really strange, and I mean really strange.”

 

“In what way?”

 

"Well, I'm telling you this in the strictest confidence, so don't tell anyone else, not Kanda, not Komui, not even Bookman. He and I listened to Cross's discussion with Allen, and it's true, Allen has the Fourteenth in his head, but from what I could tell, Lvellie didn't want to have Allen killed right away. It was like he already knew, but he was just confirming it for himself. I think the incident with Hevlaska has forced his hand.”

 

“He didn't seem particularly upset back there.”

 

"Lvellie doesn't really get upset. But I could tell he was disgruntled, he came here in person to announce the matter rather than doing it over the speakers, which means he probably came straight from discovering Hevlaska, and I'm willing to bet Komui did the same thing. Notice how they didn't say anything about how she died? Lvellie took advantage of the Ark disappearing to turn everyone's attention away from her death and on to Allen.”

 

“That was really strange, I never seen the Ark be so disruptive before. You don't think anything’s happened to Allen do you?”

 

“I certainly hope not, but who can say? I haven't seen him since yesterday.”

 

“Oh, I just thought of something! Lvellie said he wanted Allen to be… killed. But he didn't send anyone to do it, not even the Central members. That weird, don't you think?”

 

“Like I said, I don't think Lvellie really wants Allen dead, so if he sends anyone it’ll be someone he trusts. I wouldn't be surprised if he sends Link to do it, then he secretly brings Allen back alive so he can be interrogated.”

 

“It's so awful though, and so sudden. I mean, I only saw Allen about an hour or two ago.”

 

“What?”

 

“Yes, after he talked with Cross, Allen came back to the library and fell asleep with me and Johnny. In fact he was the one who told me Cross had gone missing, I think he went back to ask Cross something and found him gone.”

 

“But, that was such a short while ago. And Central have been following Allen’s every move recently, they can't think he just upped and killed Hevlaska then escaped from the building without anyone seeing him. Especially not within the space of an hour!”

 

“I thought that was strange too, but I didn't say anything. To be honest though, Allen was acting very oddly when I spoke to him. Can we move somewhere else to talk though, I felt like things are getting heated in there.” She nodded towards the Science Section and sure enough, voices were carrying out into the hallway, it seemed that debate over Allen's fate had become intense.

 

“Come with me, I know somewhere I'm one hundred-percent sure we won't be interrupted.”

 

Lavi started walking down the corridor towards a door on the right and headed through it. Lenalee followed and realised where they were going.

 

“Seriously? Right towards the dangerous chemical the Science Section have been up in arms about?”

 

“Ah, so you’ve heard.”

 

“That's part of why I was there in the first place.”

 

“I did wonder why you were already there before the Ark started acting up.”

 

Lenalee debated for a moment whether or not she should tell Lavi about the egg, but then decided there was no real reason to hide it from him.

 

“Well there was that and… I told you how Allen woke me up, right? Well when he left, I noticed a bag on the table, and assuming Allen had left it, I went to take it to him. He said he was going to his room, presumably to grieve Cross alone, and so I went there. But when I went in no one was there.”

 

“Now that is weird, Allen doesn't lie to us.”

 

“I thought so, too, but like I said, I think Cross’s death really shook him, so I didn't mention it. Besides I didn't really have time to. Anyway, I looked in the bag, just to make sure it was something of Allen’s and inside was an egg of some kind.”

 

“An egg? Like a chicken egg or-”

 

“No, it was much bigger, not to mention it was see-though. Like it was made of glass or something. So I decided to take it to the Science Section to be looked at.”

 

“Good call, it sounds really creepy.”

 

“It was. Anyway that was the last time I've seen Allen today.”

 

“Well we’re here, so you can tell me all about it.”

 

They had arrived in front of what looked to be a very old room. The door had been left open and the area was cordoned off.

 

“Are you actually serious about going in there, I mean, it's supposed to be poisonous.”

 

“Oh, we aren't going in there.” Lavi said, with a grin. “We're going in here.” And he flung open a door just to the left of the one that had been cordoned off. It was in just as decrepit a state as the other but there seemed to be some new armchairs in there and the table had been dusted.

 

“It was in the process of being refurbished when the chemical incident happened, so for now it's been given up as a bad job while everyone focuses on fixing the other room. It's perfectly safe though, and if we bar the door from this side people will just assume the door’s broken and leave.”

 

“Ingenious.”

 

“I like to think so.”

 

They stepped in and barred the door with an old plank of wood. Lenalee settled herself in the left (and in her opinion, more comfy-looking) chair, while Lavi chose the right.

 

“So, what was so strange about Allen’s behaviour before he left?” Lavi asked.

 

“Well, when he woke me up I was a little startled, because he sounded almost panicked. I was worried something had happened, and what was worse was when I came to, he looked like he was in horrible pain.”

 

“Why? Was he injured or something? Why didn't you take him to the nurse?”

 

“Oh no, he didn't seem actually injured. But he was very pale and he had dark shadows under his eyes, like he hadn't slept. He also seemed to find it difficult to move, and more or less collapsed next to me, shaking. Then there was the way he talked. He seemed really relieved to see me, but at the same time very distracted. When I asked what was wrong he said Cross was missing, and then just stared into the distance.”

 

“That doesn't sound like Allen at all. Not to belittle him or anything, but he generally doesn't let us know when he's upset, or at least pretends nothing's wrong.”

 

“Actually it seemed like he was trying, but just couldn't manage it. I’m not entirely sure what was wrong but I think he had more than Cross on his mind. It was almost like he was in a different world. He actually started crying.”

 

“Wow, it must have really gotten to him.”

 

“I’m not so sure. His expression when it happened…it was just blank. No emotion, nothing. When I pointed it out he actually seemed surprised, like he hadn't noticed it. Then he said he wanted time alone and just left.”

 

“You're right that's…really weird. Especially from him.”

 

“Yes, and I haven't seen him since. He wasn't in his room where he said he’d be, and now Lvellie’s accusing him of killing Hevlaska of all things. Something's wrong here.”

 

“No kidding. To be honest though, I don't see how he could have killed Hevlaksa. He would have had to of found his way there without anyone in this building noticing, killed her without alerting anyone, and without her fighting back, as I assume he wasn't injured since he also seems of managed to escape the building without anyone noticing. All of that within an hour. It's just not feasibly possible, and that not even taking into account that, despite Allen being very proficient with Innocence, Hevlaska helped kill a Level Four - she's not exactly easy to kill.”

 

“Well, we definitely know Allen was there at some point, because assuming Central didn't just lie to everyone, Allen's shoe buckle was found in there.”

 

“That's another thing, shoe buckles don't just fall off, it takes force for something like that, implying that Hevlaska fought. But she couldn't have fought Allen because she would have beaten him, or at the very least injured him, meaning Central would have more proof than a shoe buckle. “His blood was found in the chamber.” Sounds a lot more convincing than, “His shoe buckle was found in the chamber.”.”

 

"Precisely, and besides, if what you say is true, Lvellie would have discovered Hevlaska then come straight to the Science Section to announce Allen a traitor, so how could he possibly know Allen was missing? Is he even missing? It's not like this place has been searched.”

 

“He’ll have a nasty surprise if he runs into anyone.”

 

“He certainly will. This entire thing is so strange.”

 

"Well what are we going to do about it?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean are we just going to sit here and let Central nonsensically brand Allen a traitor, or are we going to find out what's happening?”

 

“The thing is, I don't see how we can. We aren't exactly allowed to just go off and do anything we like, we have to go on missions.”

 

“They aren't going to send us on a mission for a while, at least not for a couple of days. They need to investigate Hevlaska's death more thoroughly and find out what happened to the Ark. We can use that time to search around.”

 

“Do you think we should tell Kanda about this? He could be helpful if people start getting on our case.”

 

“We may as well, I suppose.”

 

It was with this sentiment, the two rose and set out, looking for Kanda.


	13. The Truth about Lvellie

  
**A couple of hours in the future**

“ ** _Well, we’re finally here._** ”

Allen and Nea had, at last, reached Raasura’s room, after what seemed like hours of walking.

“Why is everything here so far away from everywhere else? Christ.”

Allen in particular was feeling the stress of the walk, as although he had mostly recovered from his last bout of pain when they left, the final wave of exhaustion had set in about halfway there, and was still refusing to let up.

“ ** _Well, it was either this or scale the tower and I know which one I prefer. Although to be fair, the room seems a lot further away than I remember._** ”

“Ugh, there are no seats in there either.”

“ ** _Well then, you'll just have to lie on the floor won't you._** ”

“I going to have to at this rate.”

Allen opened the door, and once inside more or less collapsed next to a rock and kicked the door shut. He then propped himself up and tried to get his eye to activate again. Sure enough, the world sunk into monochrome, but with it, Allen felt a blistering pain behind his eyes and cried out in pain before turning the world back to normal. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“ ** _Woah there, take it easy. This isn't a race, no one can get us in here._** ”

Allen looked at Nea, he seemed to be less substantial than before, but his grip was strong on Allen's shoulder.

“I know, I just-”

“ ** _Want things back to how they were?_** ”

Allen smiled sadly.

“Yeah. I know that won't happen, but I feel like if I just do everything quickly enough, I can clear my name and go back.”

“ ** _I’m sorry._** ”

“It's not your fault. It's whoever’s been messing with the timeline.” He shuddered. “It's still really cold. I'm just so tired though, I feel like I could pass out at any moment.”

“ ** _You can go to sleep if you want. It's no use trying to find Soul Fragments if you can barely keep your eyes open._** ”

“I'll still have to deal with you though.”

“ ** _You wound me, and no, you don't. I should probably of mentioned it earlier but when you're in your “dreamscape” as you call it, you aren't really asleep. Which is probably part of why you feel so tired right now._** ”

“So in reality I haven't properly slept in forty-eight hours. Yeah, I'd say that's definitely why I feel exhausted. Well then, see you in a few hours, because I really need to sleep.”

As Allen closed his eyes, Nea expected to find himself return to the dreamscape, but instead he remained in the outside world. He pondered this. It seemed like Allen had done something which had separated their consciousnesses. While he still felt bound to Allen, and knew he couldn't stay more than a few feet away from him, he now felt like a different entity, rather than a soul desperately trying to retain its hold on reality. Something was nagging at him though, pulling at the back of his mind, he could sense that something was wrong.

When he had first awoken, he could remember clearly the old world he and Allen had resided in, the mistakes he had made, the mistakes Allen had made, but above all he could remember a plan. A plan to change things, to fix their mistakes, a plan they had both made to improve things for the better. But something went wrong. Allen couldn't remember. And now, neither could he. Ever since he had introduced himself to Allen in his dreamscape, his memories were slowly fading away, and now the merest remnants were all that remained. Why had he stopped Allen from intervening in Cross's disappearance? Would Allen have even intervened in the first place? It had seemed so important at the time, but now…now he had no idea what to do next. The moment Allen had decided to go to Hevlaska, Nea hadn't been able to stop him, and from there this whole spiralling mess had begun.

Nea had been trying to pinpoint precisely what was wrong, but so many things seemed to be off it was almost impossible for them to fit a coherent narrative. Firstly there was Allen's powers, part-Innocence, part-sorcery and completely alien to Nea. He understood the basics of time based sorcery, but had never been a strong practitioner in life. In fact, the role of a Chronologer was notoriously difficult, due not only to the huge and often lethal amounts of unavoidable energy drain it caused, but also the immense amount of magical skill it required, for so little gain. But Allen was, as in so many things, a curious exception. Not only had he somehow managed to stop time by accident, of all things, but also survived a period of stopped time that could have killed far more skilled sorcerers with comparatively little damage.

Allen's Innocence had to be involved, Nea had decided. Well, it was more he seemed to know that it was, but as with the ever fading plan, that knowledge apparently came from before they were time displaced, and as a result, was fading fast. The next oddity was Hevlaska's death and the mysterious creature that had caused it. According to her, it had come through a rift in time and attacked her, but how? Neither he nor Allen had seen the time rift in her chamber, and that's where it had to of opened, to avoid being seen by anyone else.

In addition, what had caused the rift in the first place? When he had first laid eyes on the new Headquarters, nothing had been wrong, timeline-wise that is. But as time passed, an abnormal amount began to appear, then the forced constants to desperately balance them out, but it just wasn't enough. Whoever, or whatever was causing them, had to of known, had to of been desperate enough to keep on trying, over and over and over, until the Universe split in agony. Something truly, truly horrific must of happened to warrant that kind of self-destructive, frantic timeline generation. But so far, nothing of such a magnitude had occurred. Well maybe Hevlaska's death could have been it, but that was due to the timeline havoc, not the reason for it.

Then there was the fact that he and Allen had been time displaced at all. What was even more infuriating was that deep down, he knew why, but no matter how much poking and prying he did at both his own and Allen’s memories, he just would not, could not remember. It had been something to do with Allen's Innocence he knew, but beyond that everything was a tantalising blur.

None of this made sense but what was most troubling to Nea was Allen’s visions. Nea was almost certain they were what caused him to become separated from Allen’s consciousness, perhaps combined with his strange time-stopping sorcery. Despite their previous closeness and Nea’s sometimes overwhelming connection with Allen’s thoughts, he was unable to clearly process Allen's visions. To him, it was almost as though they were occurring under water. Everything was blurred and the voices were muffled to the extent where he could barely tell what was happening. From what he could tell, Allen had experienced some degree of obscurity as well, but given his vivid description of his former self and the events the had occurred when he sat at the piano, Nea assumed the visions must have become clearer since then. Another thing he had noticed was that they all occurred in the past, before Allen had been de-aged, when he was still allied with Nea. Well, Nea mused, Allen was still allied with him really, if somewhat reluctantly. He had been relieved when Allen seemed to be warming up to him, it was bad enough he had lost _him_ , Nea couldn't bear to lose Allen too. Not when all that seemed to be left of _him_ was Allen. They were similar, yes, but not the same person. Not even slightly.

Nea looked at Allen, who at this point was lost in dreamland. With Allen asleep like that, he could almost bring himself to believe it really was _him_ lying there, they looked so very similar. Unmistakable, even if Allen was several years younger than _he_ had been. Of course that was another point of concern. No one remembered him at all. It was like he had been wiped from the very fabric of the universe. Not even Mana had recognised Allen as a child. But why?

Gazing down at Allen, Nea felt an almost overwhelming grief flow through him. Part of it was him trying to come to terms with the fact that he was gone forever, and it was almost entirely his fault, and part of it felt like like his ever fading memories, muffled and distant. He couldn't remember the cause of that grief, but the same devastating feeling of loss accompanied it as his feelings about _him_. With a great deal of effort, Nea tore his eyes away from Allen and forced his thoughts about _him_ to the back of his mind. They had to concentrate on finding the Soul Fragments.

Although Nea was finding it increasingly hard to remember when he and Allen were time displaced, what he could remember indicated that this world was very similar to their previous one. Therefore it seemed like a safe bet to look for the Fragments in places where Allen had previously done missions and encountered the current Noah. Indeed, the Piano Fragment was connected to a memory that was eerily similar to his own.

He had so many questions, and as his memories continued to fade and his previous life became obscured before him, he wondered whether this would be how Allen would feel if he did decide to take over his body and erase him for good. He wondered whether this was how _he_ had felt when he was de-aged. It was almost peaceful. Feeling his previous resentment, his anxiety and even his fear slowly slip away, it was soothing. But at the same time he worried over where these emotions had come from, about the terrible future that loomed unseen before him, and his desperation as he had first entered this world and found Allen completely blank. So many things were so very wrong. But as Nea once again turned to look at Allen, seeing him sleeping peacefully despite all the recent trials he had been through, he felt at ease. He sat across from Allen, and as he did he felt exhausted. Whether it was Allen's feelings leaking through their bond, or simply his own, he couldn't tell, but the world started to fade from view, with darkness creeping along the edges of his vision, and just like that, Nea fell asleep.

  
**At the Black Order – Several hours ago**

Lvellie was unnerved. This was a rare experience for him, and a deeply unpleasant one. It had happened again, he had been shunted from one world and landed unceremoniously in another. This had happened several times now, but still he wasn't used to it. This time though, this time, things were going to be different. Lvellie had had the misfortune of originally inhabiting a timeline where things went disastrously wrong. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened, as each time he got displaced it grew increasingly difficult to remember the previous world. But what he could remember, was that it was all Allen Walker’s fault. The boy had been too strong, and the 14th had been too aggressive, which meant he had refused to let the 14th take over without a fight.

That was where everything went to hell, at least for Lvellie, that is. The other inhabitants of that original timeline may have argued that it was when the Noah decided that playing around with the Black Order was getting boring and launched a full assault that things really went to hell. Others may have said it was Apocryphos’ untimely appearance that caused their eventual downfall. But what they may have thought didn't really matter, because now they were all dead. Lvellie had only escaped by being transported into a different world. But the important thing was, it was Allen Walker’s fault, and in every world since that one, it was also Allen Walker’s fault. Which meant that when Lvellie had been suddenly transported to a new world, again, after the previous one one had been ruined by Allen Walker, again, he was determined to stop the boy by any means necessary.

What a surprise it had been when precisely the perfect crime to pin on the boy came along. Well, Lvellie had been planning on arresting him as soon as Cross unveiled that he was a Noah, but not hours afterwards, Cross had been found dead, which somewhat prevented him. But he had been expecting that. What he had definitely not been expecting was to find Hevlaska dead as well, within hours of Cross’s death. Even better, there was a shoe buckle left in the Chamber. Lvellie didn't know whether the buckle was Allen’s and frankly, at this point he didn't really care, but the opportunity had been too good to pass up. Sure, no one could really prove it was Allen that killed Hevlaska, but no one could disprove it either, and Allen’s disappearance only made him look more guilty. It did create a problem for Lvellie however, in that he had no idea where the boy actually was. In the long run though, it didn't matter. The Black Order had branches everywhere, and no matter where he had fled, one of them would catch him.

He would deal with the problem of Allen later though, at that moment they had more pressing matters to deal with. Since Hevlaska was dead, they had lost their main identifier and guardian of Innocence. To say this left them in a bad spot would be something of an understatement, but fortunately Lvellie had seen several worlds fall, and several Hevlaska’s die. He knew that simply keeping the Innocence in the new European Headquarters was tantamount to surrendering it to the Noah. No, he would call the Generals together, each would take an equal amount of Innocence and keep it as safe as possible. Some of the best Exorcists would also take some Innocence, only the ones that weren't allied to Allen Walker though, they were less likely to run into the Noah. The Cube however, would stay with Lvellie. After all, Hevlaska had been family until she became an Accommodator, so who was to say another member may not also be one? Besides, so far, Lvellie reasoned, he had been left alive the longest throughout the conflict in each world, and if he did get displaced again, it meant the War had been lost long ago.

At that particular moment though, he still had yet to explain the plan of action to the Branch Chiefs. As he reached the door to the room where he was about to meet Komui, he realised it would be significantly harder to reach the other Branches with the Ark having disappeared. Oh well, it would just take slightly longer to implement his plan than usual, and at this point they still had plenty of time. Or at least, he thought they did.

As he walked in he saw Komui glaring at him. He, like the other members of the European Branch, was unhappy with Lvellie's treatment of Allen. But then he didn't know the havoc the boy had caused, and would inevitably cause later, so Lvellie chose to ignore him. Komui apparently noticed that Lvellie wasn't going to comment on his behaviour, so dived in with the questions about what to do now Hevlaska was dead.

“So what are we going to do now Hevlaska is dead? How are we going to protect the Innocence? What about the Cu-”

Lvellie raised a hand and cut him off.

“Calm down, Komui, all is not lost, we have plans for this sort of thing.”

“Well I'd love to see them, because I haven't heard any mention of one so far.”

Lvellie sighed.

“You would talk to your superior like that? Komui, I understand we are experiencing a troubling time, but please, retain some politeness.”

Komui was clearly barely managing to keep the scowl off his face, and Lvellie felt the urge to sigh again. The man was far too devoted to Allen Walker. In fact, the entire Branch was far too devoted to Allen Walker. It had made dealing with them a pain in the past, and clearly it was going to make them a pain to deal with now as well.

“We will call the other Branch Chiefs here at once. They must be briefed on what's going to happen now.”

Apparently Komui couldn't resist cutting in at this point.

“And what are we going to do now?”

Lvellie shot a warning smile in the man’s direction, he was overstepping his place.

“We are going to summon the best Exorcists that have not yet become Generals here, and each one will take several pieces of Innocence to protect, in a manner similar to the current Generals. The Generals themselves will also be summoned here, several weeks apart so as not to arouse suspicion in the Noah, and the remaining Innocence will be divided equally between them. The Cube however, will remain with me. It was my family which produced the Accommodator for the Cube, it is likely this will happen again.”

Komui looked at him for a long time, clearly wondering whether this really was the best option. Luckily Lvellie didn't have any doubts, and so waited for Komui's verdict, not that it would matter anyway. Finally the man seemed to of come to a decision.

“That seems like the best course of action…”

“Ah, yes. Before I forget - none of the chosen Exorcists can be allied with Allen Walker.”

“What? Why-”

“Because the Noah are after him. They seem to know that he cares deeply for his friends at the Order, and as such they will be targeted. I’d rather we didn't lose some of Innocence as well as our Exorcists.”

“Fine. I'll make sure none of the Exorcists are affiliated with Allen.”

“Good. Now I suggest you get on with contacting your chosen Exorcists. I will contact the Branch Chiefs.”

Komui nodded reluctantly and left. Lvellie watched him go with a feeling of distrust. He wasn't sure how long it would be until the European Branch started to rebel against him. Things seemed to be working fine so far though, and so, he sat down at his desk and began to write letters to the Branch Chiefs explaining the situation. It was going to be a long day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was one hell of a chapter! I realised some of you may be confused over exactly what's going on, but don't worry, I promise both Nea's mysterious memory loss and the reason Lvellie's been time displaced will be explained in time. In the meantime feel free to post your theories in the comments! Thanks to everyone who keeps reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter!


	14. The Discovery

__It was dark in the corridor as Lenalee and Lavi searched for Kanda. He hadn’t been with the other Exorcists when they all burst into the Science Section. In fact, neither of them had seen Kanda for quite some time. Just as Lavi was beginning to think they’d never find him, Lenalee spoke.

“Why don't we just ask someone whether they know where he is?”

Lavi thought about this and mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that before.

“Yeah, we probably should have tried that first, rather than wandering aimlessly around the building.”

“Probably.” she said, with a smile.

“Back to the Science Section then?”

“I think that’s the best idea.”

By the time they'd reached the Science Section though, they were both having second thoughts. What had looked like the beginning of an argument when they left, sounded like it had turned into an all-out screaming match. Fortunately the door was closed, so the noise wasn't quite overwhelming, but still very uncomfortable. A few people had made their way out and were milling around in the hall with nothing to do. Crowley and Miranda seemed to be among this number and Lavi and Lenalee made their way over to them. Crowley noticed them first, breaking off his conversation with Miranda to wave them over. Miranda looked nervous, but happy to see them. Crowley was the first to speak.

“So, you managed to make it out as well?”

“More or less.” said Lenalee, with a shrug. “We left before things started getting really heated in there.”

“You were lucky then, Miranda and I barely managed to escape before people started screaming at each other.” said Crowley, looking distinctly bedraggled.

"Is it really that bad in there?" asked Lavi.

“I afraid so, people are up in arms about Allen supposedly being a Noah, not to mention the Ark disappearing like that.”

Lavi didn't find it hard to believe that the Order was already beginning to split into factions, it was exactly what he'd been worried about the moment he'd heard that Allen was the host for a Noah. The thing was, that while Allen was highly valued in the European Branch and part of the Asian Branch, the other Branches would be far more suspicious of him, as they had closer links to Central. Hell, even Crowley was showing an unconscious bias in the way he talked about it. Lavi could help but wonder whether pointing it out would make him change his tune.

“Why do you say “supposedly”?”

“Well, it’s Central isn't it? No one really trusts them. And I think we would have noticed if Allen was a Noah.”

Lavi pondered this. Crowley’s opinion was hardly unique in the European Branch. You could tell just by walking through the new Headquarters how uncomfortable everyone felt about Central being there. He would need to keep an eye on that, as it could easily become much more serious very quickly, especially given the nature of Central. Then there was Crowley’s attachment to Allen. He was clearly having trouble trying to reconcile his friend with a Noah. Although he himself was hardly one to talk, given he was trying to prove Allen innocent even as they spoke. All the while, Miranda had been looking more and more nervous as the conversation continued and now she interjected.

“It’s the scientists from the other branches. They’re suspicious of Allen and started arguing with our scientists. Then some of the other Exorcists joined in, and now…” she looked over at the door to the Science Section through which the sound of shouting hadn't at all quietened.

This didn't bode well for the future of the Order. Lavi had seen many wars break out, and he'd be damned if this situation didn't look like it was coming dangerously close to causing a fissure in the Order. But of course, that wasn't why they were there. Fortunately, Lenalee seemed to have the situation in hand.

"Actually we came here to ask you something.” she said. “You wouldn't happen to have seen Kanda recently?”

Crowley and Miranda looked at each other in confusion.

“No, why do you ask?” questioned Crowley.

“I haven't seen Kanda all day.” said Miranda.

“We just wondered where he was, seeing as he didn't come here with the rest of us when the Ark door closed.”

“I'm afraid I have no idea.” said Crowley.

Unfortunately that was what Lavi had been expecting. While Kanda was in no sense subtle, if he didn't want to be found then he wasn't going to be found. Still, it would be silly for them to give up there and then, so he indicated at Lenalee that they should go.

“That’s alright, we’ll just keep on looking. Tell us if you do come across him though.” she said.

“Of course.”

And with that he and Lenalee began to walk back to the main staircase. They looked everywhere they could think of, the Library, the Cafeteria, the Training Room, but still there was no trace of Kanda. They looked for him in his room, after having to ask about twelve different people where it was, only to find it empty, just like everywhere else.

“This is getting ridiculous.” proclaimed Lenalee, after finding yet another room completely devoid of Kanda. “He can't have just disappeared.”

“Maybe he’s gone with Allen.” joked Lavi. Despite the seriousness of the situation, their absences were remarkably similar.

“I doubt it.”

It was just then, an idea stuck him. It perhaps wasn't a brilliant idea, but it might help them find Kanda. “You don't suppose he’s gone outside do you?” he asked.

"Well, I don't see why he would.” said Lenalee, giving him a suspicious glance.

“But the possibility is undeniably there.” he pushed.

“I mean, I suppose…” she mumbled begrudgingly.

"Right. So, I propose we go up the the roof and see if we can get a good vantage point to spot him.” he said, trying to get it past her quickly so she didn't have time to disagree. Lenalee seemed to be a master a spotting bad ideas though, because she immediately tried to shoot him down.

"That sounds unnecessarily dangerous.” she said, narrowing her eyes a bit.

“Why? The roof is mostly flat and it won't be slippery from the rain anymore.”  
She seemed to falter a bit at this reasoning, before apparently coming to a conclusion.

“Well, I don't suppose we have many other options at this point.”

Lavi noticed a distinct sigh in her voice, and had to bite back a sarcastic retort.

“Exactly, so let’s get moving.”

He hurried up the staircase and Lenalee followed, still sighing to herself. Soon they came out onto the roof. It was strangely silent. In contrast to the rest of the building, which was bustling with people after everything that had happened, the rooftop seemed almost to be a separate world. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the water below. Everything was bathed in light, the sky was a deep blue and the trees around were a vivid emerald. Clouds floated motionless in the sky. It was like walking into a picture of the perfect day.

However, Lavi quickly noticed that they were not alone. Sitting perfectly still, balanced on the edge of the roof, was Kanda. He was looking out towards the sea, at the horizon. He hadn't seemed to notice them. Lenalee called out to him.

“Kanda!”

As he turned towards them, he seemed…surprised. But quick as a flash the emotion was gone, in its place was his usual grim façade.

"What is it?” he asked, irritably.

Lavi couldn't help but notice that Kanda seemed…off, somehow. Not in that he was annoyed, that was completely normal, but there was a kind of underlying calmness that Lavi had never seen in him before. For once, Kanda seemed to be acting the way he was for a reason, rather than being pointlessly annoyed all the time. Lenalee hadn't seemed to notice this though, and started talking straight away.

“We wanted to talk to you about Allen.”

“Why? What’s he done now?”

This caused her to pause, and Lavi himself quite suddenly realised that Kanda, having been absent from Lvellie's declaration, would know nothing of what had recently occurred. He had also studied Kanda’s face when Allen was mentioned and if he wasn't mistaken, he had detected a flash of concern. Like the surprise earlier, it was there and gone in a millisecond, but Lavi had seen it. He thought Lenalee might have seen it too, and he would ask her about it later. But the real question was why Kanda seemed so different all is a sudden.

“Wait, you mean you haven't heard?” said Lenalee, perplexed.

“Obviously not, since I just asked you.”

Well at least his surliness was familiar. Lenalee looked at Lavi for support. He supposed that now was as good a time as any to explain what had happened.

“The Ark’s disappeared, Hevlaska’s dead and Central suspect Allen of killing her. Also he’s probably a Noah.”

Kanda looked at Lavi with a mixture of confusion and anger and Lenalee glared at him. He had to suppress a laugh. “What?”

“Perhaps you could explain in more detail?” she prompted.

Lavi sighed. “About an hour ago, there was horrendous noise coming from the Science Section, so everyone rushed in thinking it was Akuma. It wasn't, it was the Ark door closing. Of course, Allen controls the doors, so everyone was wondering what happened to him. Then Lvellie walks in and says, essentially, that not only is Hevlaska dead, but that he and by extension, Central, thinks Allen did it.”

Kanda didn't seem to understand anymore than he did the first time, and, if anything, looked even more confused.

“Why?”

“His shoe buckle was at the scene of the crime.”

“What.”

Lavi admitted to himself that that wasn't really an answer, but irritating Kanda was more or less a force of habit, and besides, his reaction was definitely worth it. Lenalee seemed to think so too, because she’d had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

“We’ll get to that later. Anyway, this is obviously strange so I ask what proof they have, at which point the shoe buckle turns up. I was about to say that that was ridiculous but he continued anyway, and said that since Allen had recently been unveiled as the host of a Noah, even if he was innocent of murdering Hevlaska, he was no longer welcome at the Order. Not only was he unwelcome, but Lvellie wants him hunted down and killed. That's about it I think?” he said, glancing over at Lenalee who seemed satisfied with this answer. Kanda did not.

“Shoe buckle? What do you mean shoe buckle? What’s that got to do with murder?”

An excellent question if ever there was one, but Kanda was saved a sarcastic response as Lenalee decided to take the lead.

“That’s more or less what we were wondering. Apparently Lvellie found Allen’s shoe buckle in Hevlaska's Chamber, which he views as damning evidence that Allen was there, and therefore killed Hevlaska.” she said.

“But…it’s a shoe buckle. It could belong to anyone.”

Apparently Kanda’s powers of deduction were still intact, which would doubtless help them if anything exceedingly obvious needed to be said.

“Exactly, which is part of why we think Central is trying to cover up her murder by blaming Allen for it.”

“Why don't they just capture Allen then? It's not like he’s gone anywhere.”

Oh yeah, he should probably have mentioned that, given that was why they’d come to him in the first place. He and Lenalee exchanged looks.

“That's where you would be wrong.” he said, in a slightly pained voice. “Since Lenalee saw him, about an hour before the Ark door closed, he seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.”

“Then we should find him, and demand an explanation.” said Kanda, rising to his feet.

"Well actually Kanda, we searched almost the entire building looking for you, and we still didn't see Allen anywhere.” said Lenalee.

“Then we ask around, and see if anyone else saw him.” growled Kanda, clearly becoming impatient. He seemed very focused on finding Allen. Could it be linked to the flash of concern Lavi had seen earlier? Once again though, Lenalee seemed to have an idea.

“There are a lot of people outside the Science Section right now, we should head there first.” she said. Well, it was sound in theory, but he doubted that anyone hanging around outside the Science Section would willingly talk about Allen, given what was happening inside it that very moment. In fact, they may even have to go in themselves, but that was really more of a last resort. Still, it was their best option for now.

“Agreed.” he said, and they set off for the Science Section once more.

As they found themselves outside the Science Section for the fourth time that day, it became apparent that the fight in the room itself wasn't going to settle down any time soon.

“What the hell’s going on in there?” grumbled Kanda, having to raise his voice over the din. They really would have to have a more in depth talk later.

“An argument that doesn't involve you! That has to be a first right?” teased Lavi, getting swiped at for his trouble. There hadn't been anymore uncharacteristic flashes of emotion from Kanda, but Lavi was keeping a close eye on him, trying to work out what had changed.

“Come on you two, Crowley and Miranda are still over there.”

They made their way over to the pair, who seemed a bit relieved to see them. It was obvious that they both had business in the Science Section, but neither could seem to gather the courage to go in.

“So you found Kanda, then?” said Crowley. Kanda snorted angrily in response.

“It would seem so.” said Lenalee, in a slightly exasperated tone.

“Alas, our search continues.” said Lavi, with a comedically overwrought voice. “We must once again ask you for guidance.”

“And who is it you're looking for?”

“Allen, naturally.”

Crowley gave him a strange look, clearly wondering if he’d lost his marbles. Miranda, meanwhile, looked more nervous than ever, glancing around the room to see if anyone was listening.

“But Allen’s gone missing.”

It seemed Crowley and Kanda's powers of deduction were about equal.

“We know that, we just wondered if either of you saw him today before the Ark door closed.” said Lenalee.

Miranda had become very anxious. While before she had merely seemed slightly paranoid, now she was almost shaking.

“Are you okay, Miranda?” asked Lavi. He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d seen something she shouldn't have. While she was prone to fits of self-loathing, she had been gradually improving, besides, now she seemed more scared than anything else.

“I saw him. Allen, I mean.” she whispered, clearly afraid of being overheard. That might explain some of her nervousness, but still, she seemed disproportionately anxious.

“Really? When?”

“Not in here, there are too many people.”

Lavi definitely agreed with her on that, they didn't want half the Order searching for Allen. Crowley seemed reluctant to come with them though.

“We’ll go outside. Crowley, are you coming?”

“No, I need to head back in there, actually.” he said, gesturing towards the door to the Science Section. As Lavi had suspected, he had business in there and seemed to have finally mustered up the courage to go in.

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Lavi watched as Crowley made his way dejectedly towards the door and couldn't help but feel a stab of sympathy. Still, work was work, he supposed.

By the time they made it outside, it was still a lovely day, but grey clouds were gathering in the distance. There was going to be another storm tonight.

Leaving the building had made Miranda perk up a bit, Lavi suspected she was afraid of Central spying on them. At any rate, she was now more willing to talk.

“I didn't want to mention it in there, I was worried Central might take me in for questioning.” apparently Lavi’s assumption was correct. “But I saw Allen earlier today. But the strange thing was, I feel like I shouldn't have seen him.”

That was odd, what could Allen have been doing to make Miranda so nervous about talking about him?

“Why do you think that?” he asked.

She took a steadying breath and continued. “Well, he climbed out of a window you see.”

What.

“What.”

Miranda looked sheepish. “Yes, you see that window there?” she said, pointing to a tall rectangular window on the third floor. “It was about an hour before I rushed over to the Science Section with everyone else. I was out here trying to practice with my Innocence. The Training Room was full you see, and I didn't want to bother anyone.” Lavi could tell she felt uncomfortable revealing this, but appreciated her effort. “I was in the midst of holding my shield in place, when I noticed someone climbing out of that window. I was going to call out to them, afraid they would fall, but then I realised it was Allen. After that, my throat just went dry all of a sudden, I couldn't call out to him. It was almost like I was frozen in place… Anyway, I watched him climb down the wall, he seemed to do it almost effortlessly, like a professional. Once he was on the ground he went around the building, but eventually came back into my view.” She paused here, clearly worried about something.

“What is it?” asked Lenalee, putting a hand on Miranda’s shoulder. She seemed to take comfort from this and continued.

“I just- I'm not sure what to think. He broke open the window.”

That was definitely weird.

“What, did he smash it or something?” asked Kanda, who had been strangely silent until then.

“No no, I think he used a lockpick? It was difficult to see because I was so far away. Anyway, he went in, closing the window behind him. It was that one over there.” she pointed to a small square window on the ground floor.

“Why do you suppose Allen felt he needed to break in through the window rather than just going through the door?” Lavi wondered aloud.

“That's what I've been asking myself all day.” said Miranda, who was relieved he shared her view. “It almost seemed like he was afraid of getting caught. He kept looking around, as though he thought someone was following him. He didn't see me though, I was a bit further back than here, in the forest, so he couldn't spot me.”

Lavi thought hard about this. First Lenalee mentioned Allen’s strange behaviour, and from what Lavi could judge, Allen seemed as though he had been in shock. Then after that, rather than going to his room like he said he would, he had apparently climbed out of a window and broken into a room on the ground floor, all the while scared of being seen. What on earth had happened him? There was only one real way to find out.

“I propose we go through the window, and see where Allen went.” he said.

“I'll stand outside.” said Kanda. “Tell people the room’s got dangerous substances in it.”

Lavi couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly at this, Kanda wasn't usually one to willingly stand outside and do nothing while others did the work for him. It would be good to have a guard on the door though…

“Okay, everyone else will investigate the room then.”

Fortunately Allen hadn't bothered to lock the window after him, so they managed to enter with relative ease. Kanda took up his position outside, and the three of them started looking around for an indication of where Allen had gone. At first it seemed futile, although everything else in the room was covered in dust, the floor wasn't, so there were no footprints to indicate where Allen had gone next. But after about five minutes of searching Lavi walked over to a bookshelf in the corner of the room and quickly found that a significant amount of dust had been dislodged from it recently. Then looking down, he saw something even more incriminating, a piece of paper was stuck underneath it.

He bent down to try and pick it up, but it seemed to be well and truly wedged under the shelf. Obviously the only solution would be to try and move the shelf with brute force.

“Hey, Lenalee, Miranda, think you could help me try to shift this bookshelf?”

“Why? Do you think Allen disappeared behind it?” asked Lenalee, walking over to him.

“Maybe. Look at how clean it is, barely a dust particle on it.” he said, gesturing at it.

“Hmm, you have a point there.” she said, looking it over. She then placed her hands on the side of the shelf and pushed as hard as she could. He and Miranda joined her, but even with all their strength combined, the shelf wouldn't move an inch. After spending a minute or so trying to move it from several different angles to no avail, Kanda shouted through at them.

“Just smash it!”

Well, it was an idea to be sure. But was it a good idea? Lenalee seemed to think so, because she activated her Innocence.

“Lenalee! Are you sure that's okay?” said Miranda, who was eyeing her boots nervously.

“We don't really have much of a choice, do we? There's no way we can move it.”

“Let's remove the books before smashing it to bits, please.” said Lavi, who had already started pulling them off their shelves. Fortunately they didn't seem to be in any kind of order, so there was no need to organise them as they were removed. When the bookshelf was empty, Lenalee prepared to smash it. She stood at the other end of the room, ran up to it, then gave it a powerful kick with her Dark Boots. It cracked and collapsed in front of them with a loud crash.

“Did it work?” Kanda shouted through.

Before them was a dark corridor. A torch had been removed from its bracket.

  
**In Raasura's Room**

Allen was shrouded in darkness. He knew he had fallen asleep, but he didn't seem to be in his dreamscape. He was in some kind of room, white tiles under his feet, but in every other direction there was just empty blackness. It reminded him of the Ark’s many corridors, but at the same time, it was different. He started walking, in the distance there was a light, and as he walked it grew nearer and nearer, until he could make out a platform. On it was some sparse furniture: two chairs, a table, a great mirror and what looked like a washbasin. Just as he began to draw near it however, he felt a great pain in the back of his head. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. He saw the ground rushing up to meet him.

Then he woke up.

He felt a pain in his back. He was lying on a boulder. That’s right, they were in Raasura's room. They were looking for Soul Fragments. He saw Nea’s ghostly form lying across from him. So disembodied souls needed sleep too. That was kind of weird. He looked around the room for a bit, not wanting to wake Nea. Then he noticed something. One of the buckles on his boots was missing, not only that, but the boots themselves were smeared with blood. Hevlaska's blood. He hadn't had time to notice when it was happening, but when Hevlaska had wrapped her tentacles around him, she must have accidentally pulled off one of his buckles, covering his boots in blood during the process. He was going to need a change of clothes soon. Not only was he instantly recognisable in his exorcist uniform, but he would also look very suspicious if he went around with blood all over him.

That was a problem for later though, for now his mind wandered back to what she had said to him.

“Trust no one but yourself, my child. Even your mind is at war now.”

What on earth had she meant by that? Was she referring to Nea’s presence? Or something else entirely? Either way it was troubling. It was just then something hit him. The bookshelf. The one he had moved with sorcery to get to Hevlaska. It had been a memory holder. And what was worse, he had accidentally fulfilled the conditions to release the Soul Fragment within. He hadn't seen a piece of paper after he performed the spell though, was it possible he needed to activate his eye to release the Soul Fragment? What if he had though? The paper would be trapped in the Order, and he now had no realistic way of reaching it.

As much as he was loathe to do it, he had to wake up Nea. He walked over to him and gently shook him by the shoulder.

“Nea, wake up.”

Nea seemed groggy and unable to fully wake up.

“ ** _What's wrong?_** ” his words were slurred.

“I left a Soul Fragment at the Order.” said Allen, with a touch of desperation. That seemed to wake Nea up a bit.

“ ** _You what? When? How?_** ” he asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.

“The bookshelf, remember? I had a vision and you couldn't see it properly, so I had to explain it to you.”

“ ** _I remember._** ” he said, scowling, more to himself than at Allen though.

“What are we going to do?”

Nea looked up at Allen blearily. “ ** _We don't have to do anything. There are probably lots of Soul Fragments at the Order. We can get it when we go to get those. You'll need to work on your time powers of course, but that's hardly important right now._** ”

“Are you sure? What if someone finds it before us?”

Nea shrugged. “ ** _Even if they did, it would just be a blank sheet of paper, there's no reason for them to bother with it. Only you can see whether or not something is a Soul Fragment._** ”

“I see.”

Well, that was some good news, at least. It put him at an advantage to anyone else trying to look for the Soul Fragments, and meant they probably wouldn't be stolen from him if he was caught. Nea seemed to be waking up properly now. Allen watched him rise slowly to his feet.

“ ** _Think you're ready to find another Soul Fragment?_** ” he asked, peering at Allen.

“I feel much better now, so I should say so.” Allen replied, activating his eye pre-emptively.

“ ** _Good._** ” mumbled Nea, who looked more ghostly than ever with Allen’s black and white vision. Allen could see over near the door on the other side of the room, something was glowing with a familiar blue light. He started walking over to it, Nea trailing behind him. As he got closer, he wondered what the memory holder would be. He couldn't remember anything being in Raasura's room other than rocks and Raasura's himself. Then he reached the light and inhaled deeply. It was a pile of dust. Raasura’s remains. He had to force himself to step forward and look at them more closely. The more he looked, the more puzzled (and nauseated) he became.

“Hey Nea, I know that Kanda stabbed Raasura to death, but all that's left is this pile of dust. How will I-” he cut himself off abruptly. Something was wrong. His eye had turned itself off, which would indicate that a memory had begun to play, but instead the room had gone dark. Nea was gone.

“Hello?”

There was no reply. But then he realised that he wasn't quite alone in the room, there was someone standing up ahead. He couldn't make out who it was. Suddenly the room was blindingly bright and horribly loud. There was an explosion of some kind. Allen’s ears started ringing. Something huge and yellow went crashing by him. It was Skinn Bolic, which meant that-

Just as he was about to finish his train of thought, Kanda ran straight through him, sword first, then started trying to cut at Skinn. Before he had time to process any of this, he found himself back in the dark, almost empty version of Raasura’s room. Someone still stood ahead of him, looking away, into the distance. Then Kanda and Skinn were back, Kanda was in a bad way, Skinn was going to land the final blow – no. The darkened room. Someone was approaching behind him. Kanda lifted his sword and brought it down, slicing Skinn in two. Everything was quiet. The room was dark.

Allen could finally see the person who was standing in front of him. A young woman, wearing a long, white dress. Her face was turned away, but Allen could see her dark grey skin. Another Noah, but he had never seen her before. She took a deep breath, then spoke.

“Make it quick, will you.”

Was she talking to him? No, this was a memory. Sure enough, someone else stepped out of the darkness beside him. It was Nea. But he was different. He looked older than in the last memory, his expression was one of pain and anger, in complete contrast to his usual snarky persona. His clothes were torn and blood was streaming down his face. He looked exhausted. He scowled at her.

“Aren't you going to fight?” he asked. His voice cracked as he spoke and it was obvious he was in a lot of pain. “Aren't you going to tell me to stop?”

Stop doing what? What was going on?

She looked at the ground and sighed. “What's the use? You were lost to all of us a long time ago.”

To who? The other Noah perhaps?

“That's it? You have nothing left to say? Just that it's pointless?” he snarled, almost indignantly.

Something about this was familiar, the blood on Nea’s face…his anger. It was pulling at a memory buried deep in his mind, but he couldn't quite reach it.

At this point she turned to face him. She was in her late twenties and would have been beautiful, if she hadn't looked so utterly defeated. “What do you want me to say?” her voice was low and cold. “That I failed? To admit that you were smarter, that you fooled us all? That I was wrong? What do you want?”

He could remember this woman, he knew it. But she was so different…what was going on?

Nea just stared at her.

“You know what. I'll say it. I failed. I, Tryde, Judge of the Noah, have failed. Are you happy now?” she was practically spitting the words, like they were poison in her mouth.

So that's who she was. Allen hadn't met her before, which was probably why she seemed so unfamiliar. But what had she failed at doing? Then a voice seemed to whisper in his head. The answer appeared before him. _Betrayal._ Where had it come from?

Silence.

“Why did you come here?” asked Nea, quietly. She stared at him for a moment, then she gathered herself and spoke.

“This is where you killed my sister. I feel it's appropriate for you to kill me in the same place. It was her favourite room, after all.”

Killed? _Nea killed everyone._ He knew that. He had always known that. So why...?

Nea nodded. Another moment passed.

“I'm ready, you know. Just do it. There's no point in delaying any longer.” she closed her eyes and stood perfectly still. Nea looked at the sky and breathed in deeply. It was clear he was trying to stop himself from crying. He walked over to her. It felt like an eternity until he reached her. He placed his hands on either side of her head, and just like that, she melted into dust between his fingers. Nea looked at the pile of dust in front of him, took a deep breath, and left the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is probably the longest chapter I've written so far, which I guess is appropriate considering it's number fourteen. Anyway, thanks to all those who keep reading and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!


	15. Tragedies Gone By

**At the Black Order**

Lavi bent down and dislodged the paper from under the rubble of the bookshelf. It was completely blank. He slipped it into his pocket. Lenalee gave him a strange look, then turned to the door.

“Kanda, get in here!” she called out. As Kanda came through the door he immediately raised his eyebrows.

“A secret passage?” he said, eyeing it suspiciously.

“Looks like it.” said Lavi, grinning. “And a torch is missing, so I'm betting Allen went through here after he broke in.”

Lavi looked hard at Kanda. He still seemed off somehow. He looked tired, but at the same time it was clear he wanted to push forward, as though there were some goal he was trying to reach. Of course, as to what this goal was, Lavi still had no idea.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s follow him.” said Kanda, taking a few steps towards the corridor.

“Wait!” said Miranda, grabbing his arm. “You still need someone to guard the door.”

Lavi had to admit she had a point. It wouldn't do to have other members of the Order, or even Central, suddenly discover the passage and follow them, especially since it would look incredibly suspicious for them to have broken down the bookshelf in the first place. Kanda glared at Miranda and she let go of his arm. She looked at him and hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“If you three want to go on and investigate, I can stand outside and guard the door. I doubt I'd be much help in there anyway.”

“Are you sure, Miranda?” asked Lenalee, looking at her with slight concern, then glaring at Kanda. Miranda saw this and laughed a little.

“Yes, I'm sure. You three just make sure to report back to me, okay?” she said, with a smile.

“Okay.” said Lenalee, smiling back.

Miranda went outside, closing the door behind her. Lavi looked at the passage that lay before them. It was easy to see for a while, but quickly turned to total darkness. No wonder Allen had taken a torch.

“Do you really think Allen went through here?” asked Lenalee, still staring down the corridor.

“I don't see where else he could have gone.” said Lavi, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We have to keep going if we want to find out what happened to him.”

“We need to keep moving.” said Kanda. “Central will soon notice we’re missing.”

Lenalee sighed, then nodded, and started walking towards the passage, Lavi following behind her and Kanda after him. However, they soon ran into an obstacle – it was far too dark to see.

“Do either of you have a match or something? We really need a light source in here.” said Lavi, glancing around the corridor.

“Here.” said Lenalee, reaching into her pocket and handing him several matches. He had no idea why she was carrying them, and decided it was better not to ask. He grabbed a torch off the wall and lit it, illuminating the corridor with a flickering glow. He led the way, as they began once more into the darkness. They were all silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Lavi himself was thinking hard about Allen’s actions. Nothing made sense. Why would he be acting so strangely? What could possibly have induced him into doing what he’d done?

Everything up until Allen climbing out of the window made sense. His odd behaviour could be explained by shock or bereavement at Cross’s sudden disappearance/death. Unfortunately Lavi himself had no idea what had actually happened with Cross, so there was no concrete reasoning for Allen’s behaviour. But it was as close as he could get at that point.

But why the window? The question kept coming back to him. The only possible explanation meant that Allen felt there was no other way to get to this room. Why hadn't he just gone inside? Miranda had described him as looking afraid of being caught. Was he worried about Central? They had been following his every move recently, and Allen had expressed his discomfort with this several times. Maybe he just wanted a break from his guard to mourn properly? Lavi could hardly fault him for that, but then there was the secret passage. Why hadn't Allen told them about it?

Suddenly Lenalee's voice broke through the silence.

“Where do you think we’ll end up? We seem to be going down quite a bit.”

She was right, it was quite subtle, but they were definitely descending.

“Into the bowels of the earth.” said Lavi, smirking. Kanda snorted irritably and Lenalee giggled.

“Don't be ridiculous, we aren't going that far down. I think we might get to a basement, somewhere outside Headquarters.” she said.

“Ah yes, and Allen will have made his escape into the great unknown, fooling us all, like his Noah brethren.” he replied sarcastically. However he also wasn't particularly watching where he was going, and came within an inch of falling down a small cliff.

“Stop!” he yelled, trying to regain his balance, only to have Kanda haul him away from the edge.

“Idiot.” he grumbled, glaring at Lavi, who sheepishly righted himself. Lenalee walked over to the edge and picked up something on the ground. It was an extinguished torch. They all exchanged glances, Lavi and Kanda quickly making their way over.

“You don't think he fell, did he?” Lenalee murmured, peering over the cliff to the darkness below. Lavi held his torch out over the cliff, casting light over the bottom of the cavern. There was nothing there but shallow water. They let out a collective sigh of relief. But then Lavi noticed that the water wasn't just shallow, it was also distinctly red. It could be mineral deposits turning the water an odd colour, but it was very vivid, even in the dim torchlight. He didn't really want to think about why.

“Well there's no body lying at the bottom, so that's one good thing I guess?” said Lavi, trying to sound light-hearted but failing miserably. His voice echoed slightly through the cavern. It was quiet and still. A frozen draft caused the torch to flicker. He felt a great emptiness in his chest.

“The water…” said Lenalee, quietly. She had noticed it too. They were both staring over the cliff, into the dark red water. Kanda moved forward to join them.

“Oh, pull yourselves together.” he growled. Lavi and Lenalee stared at him. “Even if the idiot did fall and break his legs, there's no way he could bleed enough to turn all the water at the bottom of this pit red. It's just common sense.”

Well, Kanda had a point. God, this entire situation was just getting weirder by the minute. What was more concerning however, was that even if it wasn't Allen, something definitely had bled enough to turn the water a sickly red, and if they continued through the cavern they were bound to find it. But then, Lavi couldn't help but admit to himself that he already knew what was waiting for them at the end of the cave. There was, after all, only one person it could be. But Allen came though here, and he couldn't have…

It didn't matter, they had followed him this far and they were going to keep on following until they either found him, or found he had vanished without a trace.

“We need to scale the cliff.” he said, already starting to lower himself off the platform. Kanda and Lenalee just stared at him.

“What?” said Kanda, peering down at him with a look of extreme disapproval. Lavi grinned up at him.

“Come on Kanda, it's fairly obvious Allen went this way. We can hardly just stop following him now.” said Lavi, continuing to descend.

“Well, if you insist.” said Lenalee, smiling, then clambering down after him. Kanda started muttering to himself, probably making disparaging remarks about the both of them, before following.

It took a surprisingly long time to reach the bottom, despite how ragged the cliff looked, it didn't have many good handholds. Not to mention they could barely see a thing, having to abandon their torch at the top of the cliff like Allen before them. Finally though, they were all at the base of the cliff. The bloody water was soaking in to their clothes.

“I’m going to need some new boots after this.” said Lavi, feeling the water soak through to his feet. “Ew.”

Lenalee laughed slightly.

“What’s so funny?” demanded Kanda, who also seemed grumpy about his soaked boots.

“It's just that I don't really have that problem.” she said, indicating her Dark Boots.

“Ugh.” he grumbled, before starting to traipse towards the end of the cavern, or at least, what they assumed to be the end of the cavern. Lavi peered into the gloom, following the sound of Kanda's sloshing steps through the water. There was nothing but darkness ahead of them. Then Kanda cried out in surprise. Both Lavi and Lenalee rushed over.

“Kanda! What is it?” asked Lenalee, as she reached him. He took a deep breath then spoke.

“There’s something in the water just in front of me, it feels like a body.” he appeared to have regained his calm, because he stepped forward and nudged whatever it was with his knee. It was still too dark to see properly.

“Hang on.” said Lavi, reaching for his hammer. As he activated it, it began to glow with an orange light, illuminating the water in front of them.

A young woman lay before them. She was floating face up in the water. Her eyes were still open, unseeing, and her forehead had been ripped open, dripping blood into the water. Kanda had been right.

She was wearing very old fashioned clothes, and despite the amount of bleeding, she couldn't have been there long. Her body was still relatively intact.

Then, just before the horrible sight could be fully registered, she began to change. Her features grew more drawn, lines began appearing on her face, her hair began to lose it's colour and turned grey, then white. More wrinkles appeared, her eyes went a milky white, her skin spread tightly over bones and became discoloured. Her whole body morphed and shifted before their very eyes, ageing and decaying until finally, she was a very old woman, lying dead in the water.

“What the hell was that?” muttered Kanda, he was looking down at the woman with a look of barely disguised horror on his face. Lenalee wore a similar expression. Lavi looked at her as well, and the more he did, the more it became obvious who she was. But it was impossible…

“It's Hevlaska.” he murmured, as though saying it would make it any less horrific. “Look.” he raised his hammer, casting it's glow around the room. It's features became clear for the first time. There was a platform just in front of them, and stairs leading up to a curtained entrance. The ceiling was domed and the cave carried on behind them, back to the cliff and the passageway. There could be no mistaking it, it was Hevlaska's Chamber.

“But how did this happen?” whispered Lenalee, her voice shaking.

“Does it really matter?” asked Kanda. “Someone’s taken her Innocence, that's why she looks human now.”

He was right, but they were all avoiding the main question. None of them wanted to think about it. None of them wanted to say it. After all, saying it would make it real. For one long moment there was silence. They stood in Hevlaska's Chamber, staring down at her body and the world paused. It was calm. Peaceful. But even as they stood side by side, they were each utterly alone. Lost in their own thoughts, unable to say them aloud, as doing so would break the moment forever. There was no going back from here. Their fate had been irrevocably changed. A voice rang through the silence. The moment shattered before them.

“Why did Allen Walker come here?”

  
**In Raasura's Room**

“Hey Nea, I know that Kanda stabbed Raasura to death, but all that's left is this pile of dust. How will I-”

Nea turned to look at Allen. He had just stopped right in the middle of his sentence and was now staring into the distance, dead to the world around him. For a second Nea was concerned, but then realised that Allen was probably just having another vision, having done much the same thing when sat at the piano. But then, what had caused it? Nea had to admit to himself that he hadn't really being paying attention to Allen, still being somewhat out of it from being so unexpectedly woken. Still, it was good they’d been making progress. Not that there was any particular rush. Nea was used to waiting. What was this about dust?

He circled around Allen to try and get a look at what he’d been staring at. He had noticed a rush of disgust when Allen first saw it, and should probably have gone to look at it then, but he’d been so tired…Then he saw it. The pile of dust on the ground. It was almost identical to-

No. He refused to think about it. He’d done what was necessary. But the longer he saw it, more and more memories came rushing back. He remembered Tryde and Raasura laughing together, he’d walked straight into their trap and fallen head first into a pond. They couldn't stop laughing, so he’d pulled them in after him. They were so happy…He remembered crying when Mana couldn't recognise him, remembered locking himself away as his brother succumbed to his own Noah memories. He remembered _his_ unending support, even when it seemed hopeless, even as he was dying…

Waves of emotion rolled over him, and, unable to hold back his tears, he began to cry. The sudden realisation of all he had lost, of what he had done, hit him all at once. He would never see his siblings again. Even if they had been reincarnated by now, they wouldn't be the same. He’d lost Mana and Cross, and _he_ was all but erased from the universe, with only Allen as his legacy. His allies were becoming fewer and fewer, and he was merely a ghost in this world. He could still take Allen's body, but it was no longer strictly necessary. For the first time in a long time, Nea had no idea what to do. Allen was still staring. Nea sincerely hoped he hadn't felt the sudden surge of emotion Nea had just felt.

Then he looked at the pile of dust again and a wave of panic washed over him. What if he saw that memory? Did Allen know what he’d done? He hadn't reacted when he’d mentioned knowing Road before he knew Tyki. Was it possible he already knew? But if he didn't…their next conversation was _not_ going to be fun. Then again, Allen had mentioned the new Raasura had been stabbed here hadn't he? Maybe it would be that memory instead? After all, it was ridiculous to think the new Noah would have left Tryde's remains here all this time. He could only hope…

Quite suddenly, Allen stumbled forward, almost tripping straight into the pile of dust. Nea quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.

“ ** _Allen what-_** ” he was forced to stop as Allen fell back into his arms, completely dazed. He looked up at the ceiling, eyes darting back and forth, unable to focus. Something was very wrong.

“ ** _Allen, can you hear me? Listen to my voice._** ” said Nea, more than a little panicked. Allen apparently registered this because he looked at Nea, confused and unfocused.

“ ** _Focus on me, try to stay awake._** ” he said, shifting Allen slightly so he was more comfortable. Allen blinked rapidly and shook his head, becoming slightly more lucid. Then, just as Nea opened his mouth to speak, Allen’s eyes became focused and he stared up at Nea, surprise written all over his face. Nea was confused, why did he look so stunned? He then reached a hand toward Nea’s face, looking even more surprised as he brushed his hand against it. Now Nea was slightly freaked out. What had happened?

“Nea? Is that really you?” he murmured, his voice was slightly slurred, but it was definitely different. It was deeper now, and his accent had changed. Could it be?

“ ** _Bennet?_** ” he asked, hardly daring to breathe.

Bennet's eyes widened and he looked around frantically, immediately darting away from Nea and starting to examine the room.

“Where am I? What's going on?” he asked, panic evident in his voice.

“ ** _Hey, hey._** ” said Nea, taking Bennet’s head in his hands and gently directing his gaze towards him. “ ** _Calm down. I can explain._** ”  
  
Bennet stared at him, taking deep breaths and trying to gather himself. He pulled Nea’s hands away from his face, though he didn't let go of them. He was still shaking. As he continued to stare, a look of confusion passed over his face as the reality of the situation hit him.

“How are you…” Bennet gestured to Nea’s body. Nea laughed.

“ ** _I think it's more you than me. I’m not really here. Just a projection of the soul residing in your body._** ” he said, smiling ruefully. Bennet shook his head in disbelief.

“I can't believe it worked.” said Bennet, a touch of incredulity in his voice. “After I took your memories I wasn't sure. I couldn't tell if you were there or not.”

Nea frowned at this. It was true that he had immediately become dormant once the memory transfer was completed, but it was very odd that Bennet hadn't felt anything.

"I thought you had to take over my body to exist properly though. How exactly did this soul projection happen?" asked Bennet. Well, that was an excellent question, seeing as Nea himself still had no idea.

“ ** _Well, I think all this,_** ” said Nea, gesturing at his body, “ ** _is separate from the memory transfer. This body, it feels like some sort of sorcery._** ”

For a fraction of a second there was a look of pure terror on Bennet's face, before it returned to normal. What on earth had caused that? Nea almost looked behind him, wondering if something had managed to sneak up on them. But no…Bennet hadn't really been staring behind him, it was like something had momentarily shocked him. Was it something he’d said?

He looked at Bennet more closely, who was now looking up at the ceiling. He had seemed somewhat disorientated through their entire conversation. He then looked down and saw his body properly. A look of dawning horror crossed over his face, and Nea had to cover his mouth to repress his laughter. Bennet glared at him.

“What,” he said, pointing at his body, “is this?”

Nea couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face, which caused Bennet to take a swing at him, which only made him laugh harder. Bennet just glared at him even more, but as he did, a grimace flashed across his face. He shook his head slightly, and rubbed his temples, like he had a headache. Nea stopped laughing and looked at his friend with some concern. He was about to ask if Bennet was okay, when he gasped and clutched his head in pain. Nea immediately rushed to his side.

“ ** _What is it? What's wrong?_** ” he asked, trying to get a look at Bennet's head. He only hissed in pain. “ ** _Hang on, I'll find something-_** ”

“No! No…” he whispered, grabbing Nea’s arm. Nea looked down at Bennet's face, desperately trying to work out what was wrong. Bennet raised his head and their eyes met, and as they did he seemed to have a moment of realisation. “Who was here before me?”

“ ** _What?_** ” asked Nea, taken completely off guard. Bennet gasped and coughed as the pain spread down to his throat.

“This body's persona. He disappeared when I came.” he rasped.

“ ** _You mean Allen?_** ” asked Nea. Bennet began to shake as the pain spread through the rest of his body, Nea wrapped his arms around him, trying to provide some semblance of comfort. He was now starting to panic, unable to help, as his friend succumbed to whatever pain was eating at him.

“Yes. He’s coming back…but…something’s wrong.” Bennet's eyes were darting wildly, no longer able to see Nea’s face.

“ ** _What do you mean?_** ” asked Nea, desperation clear in his voice. He couldn't lose Bennet, not so soon after finding he was still alive.

“His mind…it's all wrong. His memories…you have to stop them.” he whispered.

“ ** _How? Why?_** ” cried Nea, but Bennet wasn't responding. He’d gone limp in Nea’s arms. “ ** _Bennet? Allen? Wake up!_** ” he cried, but nothing happened. Nea was now close to tears again. Goddamnit! He’d just gotten Bennet back, and now he was gone. Just like that. He didn't even know if Bennet would ever come back. Even worse, something was wrong with Allen too, and he couldn't, wouldn't, lose Allen. Not after this. How could he have let this happen?

Then, the person in Nea's arms jolted awake. Nea jumped in surprise.

“ ** _Allen?_** ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was a painful chapter, no one's really having a good time of it. On the plus side we do get the first real, in the flesh appearance of Past!Allen A.K.A: Bennet. This isn't a one off appearance either, despite Nea's worries, he'll be back, I promise. In any case, thank you to all those that keep reading and I hope you liked this new chapter!


	16. October 24th - Progress

Well, I said I'd update everyone on the progress I've made on October 24th and so here I am. I've already rewritten the first few chapters, but due to various real life issues I've been making slower progress than I'd like. So, without labouring to long on it: I'm not finished making changes yet. There is one upside in that now things have improved a bit, I should be able to make more steady progress on it, but I've still got quite a bit to do - so, once again, my sincerest apologies to all of you waiting for an update. I'm going to give it another two months, which will take us to December 24th (Christmas Eve yay!) and if I'm still not done by then it'll be another two months ect. I'll keep on checking in so everyone knows how I'm progressing. Obviously if I finish before then, I'll upload the rewritten chapters and get on with some new ones (at last). Thank you to everyone still reading for all of your patience, so until December 24th, goodbye!

 


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